Trend Trend 6: AI leaves the screen and acts on the physical world

Summary

Gartner's sixth trend, physical AI, moves artificial intelligence off the screen and into physical space, embedding it in robots, drones, cars and smart devices that perceive their surroundings, make choices and take action. Such systems pair sensors and actuators with AI models so that physical tasks are automated rather than merely advised on. Gartner distinguishes this from digital AI such as chatbots, demand forecasting and recommendation engines, and gives industrial robots, bio-inspired robots, autonomous devices and wearables as examples. The trend is driven by organisations wanting to bring the productivity gains of digital AI into physical settings. Gartner forecasts that by 2028 most warehouses will rely on robots or automation and that half of the top AI vendors will sell physical AI products.