The rise of AI chatbots, explosion of mixed-reality headsets are some of the tech trends that will go big in 2023.



While 2022 was all about regulating big tech and the lack of a ‘wow’ factor in smartphones, 2023 will be about a reimagined landscape that will bring together various technologies that we have all heard about in the past. Extended Reality, AI-based tools, and decentralised social networks might make it big enough to create a buzz that will touch average users through various products. Many of 2023’s top trends are the logical next steps of 2022’s big developments, while others will be indicative of general shifts in tech culture at large. These are the tech trends that most likely set the tone for 2023.

Industry push towards extended reality

Last year was a build-up to extended reality, an umbrella term that covers VR, AR, and MR, where some brands like Meta were all about creating an alternative world through a headset while others had a restrained approach to the so-called “metaverse.” In 2023, we will see more brands—both startups and Big Tech—collectively come forward to be a part of the social experience for the metaverse.

Some will offer visual computing hardware or a headset, others will build software and content. That will result in consumers responding better to a 3D virtual space, which currently looks empty with a few customisable (but legless) floating avatars. This could also increase the chances of startups specialising in hardware, software, and tools in creating 3D environments moving up the ladder and growing faster.

The rise of AI

The later months of 2022 saw an explosion of the AI chatbot phenomenon with ChatGPT, a tool which impressed experts so much that many believe if it is trained over time it could replace humans in many jobs. Now that’s a topic for another day but OpenAI’s ChatGPT does give us a peek into the future despite its flaws. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that Artificial intelligence (AI) will be a head-lining trend for 2023. In fact, it’s already a trend with the Lensa app, which uses artificial intelligence to digitise portraits.

AI has always been a part of the tech experience, but now it has started to come to the applications that matter to consumers. Experts predict more AI tools will be released in 2023 that will be far more capable and powerful in understanding natural human language and good enough to generate human-like text. Think about AI-based tools that can pen scripts and essays. Some, however, are against such tools. Teachers, for instance, believe that AI will kill the academic essay, a common way to assess students’ writing skills, and ability to self-reflect. Then there are also concerns about privacy and the sexualisation of women through apps like Lensa AI.