By Dave Raffo | January 3, 2025
This is the time of year when predictions flourish. And while I can’t say how many visionaries used artificial intelligence (AI) to write their 2025 predictions, I can say for sure that AI was the most popular prediction topic in the IT world.
My inbox filled with predictions on how MSPs will use AI, how agentic AI I will come to the fore while Gen AI continues to flourish, and how we’ll see a rise of AI symphonies and new AI applications.
Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) was probably the most talked-about technology of 2024, and it won’t go away in 2025. However, there is a new twist coming in GenAI called agentic AI. Agentic AI is based on AI agents that use vast amounts of data from various sources to learn and reason. Besides completing repetitive work that humans have traditionally performed, AI agents can plan, make intelligent decisions and improve their performance over time. Agentic AI has been called “the next frontier in AI,” so it’s no surprise we’ve seen a wave of 2025 predictions around this emerging technology. One expert predicts “Agentic will be the word of the year in 2025.”
Here is a sampling of the interesting 2025 AI predictions.
Dee Zepf, Chief Product Officer, of MSP vendor Syncro, predicts human connection will be a key differentiator in an AI-driven MSP landscape. “In 2025, as we see AI streamline routine tasks within the MSP industry, the capacity to offer human customer service will become even more important in standing out in a crowded market,” she said. “Since AI-driven chatbots and automated ticketing can handle round-the-clock support for simpler issues, MSPs can focus human resources on complex, high-value interactions. This shift allows MSPs to enhance customer satisfaction and build stronger relationships.”
Zepf added that these changes mean MSPs will take on more advisory roles, AI-enhanced CRM tools will provide deeper insights into client needs, and AI and automation will allow MSPs that prioritize personal, consultative relationships to position themselves as trusted advisors
In case you haven’t heard, Dell is going deep on AI. So it’s no surprise that Dell COO and vice chairman Jeff Clarke and CTO John Roese issued AI predictions. Clarke said GenAI tools are essential and AI agents will be omnipresent.
“2025 is the year where enterprises will be hyper-focused on building and buying the platforms and tools they need to become the most competitive in their industry,” Clarke said. “While GenAI tools are still maturing, organizations who don’t figure out the right AI strategy and architecture will be at a disadvantage.
“AI agents are software systems that can plan, make decisions and take action to achieve pre-defined goals. They will be everywhere next year and will have a big impact on how we use AI. By 2028 Gartner predicts that one-third of GenAI interactions will use AI agents and action models for task completion.”
Roese added: “‘Agentic’ will be the word of the year in 2025. The birth of agentic AI architecture marks a new chapter in human-AI interaction. Generative AI (GenAI) tools are evolving to enable AI agents, which are poised to revolutionize how we engage with AI systems.”
You can’t spell Nvidia without using A and I, so we can’t leave the GPU giant out. Bryan Catanzaro, Nvidia’s VP of applied deep learning research, indicated that AI is just getting warmed up as to what I can do.
“AI will become more familiar to use, emotionally responsive and marked by greater creativity and diversity,” Catanzaro said. “The first generative AI models that drew pictures struggled with simple tasks like drawing teeth. Rapid advances in AI are making image and video outputs much more photorealistic, while AI-generated voices are losing that robotic feel.”
Nvidia VP of generative AI software Kari Briski predicts will AI orchestrators will form a symphony of AI.
“Enterprises are set to have a slew of AI agents, which are semiautonomous, trained models that work across internal networks to help with customer service, human resources, data security and more,” she said. “To maximize these efficiencies, expect to see a rise in AI orchestrators that work across numerous agents to seamlessly route human inquiries and interpret collective results to recommend and take actions for users.”
Nutanix CEO Rajiv Ramaswami, whose company sells a GPT-in-a-Box incorporating Nvidia GPUs, said his customers already benefit from AI.
He said in 2025 “AI applications in the enterprise are going to become mainstream. Most companies at this point are in the early stages of adopting generative AI, and they're starting to find some good business benefits. For example, internally at Nutanix we’re targeting a 25% improvement in our developer productivity by employing generative AI to do things like code generation for unit testing and a bunch of other functions. So these things are going to start becoming real across multiple facets in the enterprise, as these newer AI applications come to bear.”
