The Year in Tech 2025 by Harvard Business Review

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And what are we reading today?

Today we will talk about the The Year in Tech 2025 guide by Harvard Business Review.

The Year in Tech, 2025 by Harvard Business Review captures the most recent innovations and challenges driving technology’s role in our work and lives. The guide emphasizes how technology is moving beyond tools to become collaborators in decision-making, creativity, and problem-solving.

The recurring message is clear: success in this new era depends on integrating technology thoughtfully, balancing human insight with machine capabilities, and embracing the cultural shifts that come with it.

A key theme throughout is the need for businesses to adapt rapidly to technological advances without losing sight of ethical considerations and inclusivity.

Whether it’s AI transforming knowledge work, biometrics redefining user authentication, or digital academies closing critical skills gaps, leaders must prioritize responsible innovation. This means aligning tools like generative AI and Web3 with long-term goals, fostering skills for human-machine collaboration, and embedding fairness and sustainability into every decision.

The guide also highlights lessons from industries like construction and electric vehicles, showing that innovation can be incremental but deeply impactful.

Across all examples, the takeaway is that organizations must combine strategic foresight with actionable experimentation.

Whether it’s preparing for an unpredictable AI future or designing systems that empower creators through Web3, the focus should always be on making technology work for people, not the other way around.

The Human-AI Workplace Has Arrived – Elisa Farri & Gabriele Rosani
Robots Are Changing the Face of Customer Service – Alicia A. Grandey & Kayley Morris
Biometrics Are Becoming a Business Reality – Therese Stowell
How Early-Adopter Companies Are Thinking About Apple Vision Pro – Cathy Hackl
Three Drivers of China’s Booming Electric Vehicle Market – Chengyi Lin
AI Is Testing the Limits of Corporate Governance – Roberto Tallarita
Understanding the Trade-Offs of the Amazon Antitrust Case – Chiara Farronato, Andrey Fradkin, Andrei Hagiu & Dionne Lomax
Can the Construction Industry Be Disrupted? – Mark Erlich
What Is Responsible Computing? – Rashik Parmar, Marc Peters & Llewellyn D.W. Thomas
Generative AI and the Transformation of Knowledge Work – Maryam Alavi & George Westerman
Web3 Could Change the Business Model of Creative Work – Alex Tapscott

What are the key takeaways from The Year in Tech 2025 by Harvard Business Review

Redesign workflows for AI-human collaboration: Identify tasks where AI can augment human decision-making, freeing time for creativity and strategic thinking.

Upskill teams for the future: Create tailored learning programs that address new roles emerging from technologies like generative AI, biometrics, and Web3.

Leverage AI responsibly: Set clear policies for ethical AI use, ensuring transparency, fairness, and the mitigation of risks like bias or data misuse.

Adopt technologies incrementally: Experiment in controlled areas, as seen in China’s EV market, to refine innovations before scaling them broadly.

Empower creators with Web3: Use tools like NFTs and smart contracts to give artists and innovators greater control and more equitable compensation.

Enhance customer engagement through tech: Use spatial computing and biometrics to create immersive, seamless experiences without compromising trust.

Anticipate long-term tech impacts: Apply strategic frameworks like IDEA to prepare for the unpredictable trajectories of emerging technologies.

Promote sustainability in IT: Optimize energy use in data centers, adopt responsible coding practices, and align IT initiatives with environmental goals.

Foster experimentation in your culture: Encourage teams to test and iterate with new technologies, building adaptability and innovation into daily operations.

Focus on people, not just tools: Whether it’s robots in customer service or generative AI in workflows, ensure technology complements human strengths rather than replacing them.

The Human-AI Workplace Has Arrived

By Elisa Farri and Gabriele Rosani

👉 The Big Idea: AI is no longer just a tool—it’s becoming a workplace partner. Businesses must rethink workflows, upskill employees, and establish ethical guidelines for collaboration.

📌 The Summary: Workplaces are entering a new phase where AI actively contributes to decision-making and creative processes, not just automation. To succeed, organizations need to redesign workflows and equip employees with the right skills.

A key concept is “fusion workflows”, where AI handles repetitive, data-heavy tasks while humans focus on critical thinking and judgment. The challenge is maintaining a balanced partnership and addressing ethical concerns like bias. Leaders play a key role in guiding this transition smoothly and inclusively.

💡 Key Takeaways:
✔ AI is shifting from automation to active collaboration in the workplace.
✔ Employees need new skills to engage effectively in human-AI workflows.
✔ Ethical considerations and transparency are critical for trust and fairness.

Robots Are Changing the Face of Customer Service

By Alicia A. Grandey and Kayley Morris

👉 The Big Idea: Robots are transforming customer service by handling routine tasks—but their success depends on thoughtful design and human integration.

📌 The Summary: Robots are becoming a common sight in customer service, from hotel concierges to self-service kiosks. However, they need to strike the right balance—functional and approachable without being too human-like, which can feel unsettling.

Design elements like friendly names or voices make robots more relatable, but they’re not a one-size-fits-all solution. While robots excel at repetitive tasks, human employees remain crucial for complex or emotional interactions. Businesses should see robots as team players, complementing human workers rather than replacing them.

💡 Key Takeaways:
✔ Robots are best suited for repetitive tasks but must complement human roles.
✔ Thoughtful design, like names and subtle emotional cues, improves engagement.
✔ Human workers remain essential for handling complex and emotional customer needs.

Biometrics Are Becoming a Business Reality

By Therese Stowell

👉 The Big Idea: Biometrics—like facial and fingerprint recognition—are transforming digital experiences, but businesses must address privacy concerns to build trust.

📌 The Summary: Biometric technology is streamlining customer interactions in industries like fintech, hospitality, and retail. From checking into hotels with an app to verifying identities for banking, businesses are leveraging biometrics for convenience and security.

However, adoption comes with challenges, such as data privacy, AI biases, and ethical concerns. AI-trained biometric systems can exclude certain groups if not developed inclusively. Companies must strike a balance between innovation and trust, ensuring their biometric solutions are secure and transparent.

💡 Key Takeaways:
✔ Biometrics simplify authentication and improve user experiences.
✔ Ethical implementation and data transparency are key to building trust.
✔ AI-powered biometric systems must be trained on diverse datasets to avoid bias.

How Early-Adopter Companies Are Thinking About Apple Vision Pro

By Cathy Hackl

👉 The Big Idea: Apple Vision Pro is more than a device—it’s a gateway to spatial computing. Early adopters are experimenting with immersive customer experiences and business applications.

📌 The Summary: Companies like Lowe’s and e.l.f. Cosmetics are exploring Apple Vision Pro’s potential to transform customer engagement. Lowe’s enables customers to visualize home renovations in 3D, while e.l.f. Cosmetics offers interactive beauty experiences. The PGA Tour is also leveraging the device to bring golf courses to life in 3D.

While these companies see spatial computing as a game-changer, challenges remain. Developing apps for Vision Pro requires specialized skills and investment. Businesses must weigh the opportunity to lead innovation against the risk of betting on an emerging technology.

💡 Key Takeaways:
✔ Spatial computing creates immersive customer experiences.
✔ Early adopters are experimenting with Vision Pro to engage consumers in new ways.
✔ Developing for spatial computing requires specialized skills and investment.
✔ The long-term business impact of Vision Pro remains uncertain.

Three Drivers of China’s Booming Electric Vehicle Market

By Chengyi Lin

👉 The Big Idea: China dominates the global EV market by strategically experimenting, solving operational challenges, and investing heavily in battery technology. These lessons can help other industries scale innovations.

📌 The Summary: China’s EV dominance—accounting for 60% of global sales—comes from three key strategies. First, companies like BYD and Geely experimented with smaller markets like electric buses and motorcycles, refining battery technology before moving to cars. Second, they solved operational hurdles by working with taxi companies to optimize charging schedules and reduce grid strain. Third, they invested deeply in battery tech and supply chains, ensuring cost efficiency and innovation.

Chinese automakers now aim for global expansion, but success depends on adapting to local regulations and infrastructure challenges in Western markets.

💡 Key Takeaways:
✔ Experimenting in smaller markets (buses, motorcycles) helped refine scalable EV technology.
✔ Solving real-world issues like charging logistics made EVs more practical in cities.
✔ Heavy investment in battery development and supply chain control fueled cost reduction and innovation.
✔ Global expansion requires adapting to regional regulations and infrastructure needs.

AI Is Testing the Limits of Corporate Governance

By Roberto Tallarita

👉 The Big Idea: AI’s rapid development is challenging traditional corporate governance models, raising questions about balancing profit, safety, and social responsibility.

📌 The Summary: AI governance is struggling to keep up with the speed of innovation. The controversy at OpenAI, where CEO Sam Altman was fired and reinstated, highlights tensions between profit-driven goals and broader AI safety concerns.

While companies like OpenAI attempt new governance models, market forces often dominate. Traditional structures are ill-equipped to handle AI’s societal risks, and even alternative models like public benefit corporations face challenges. The key is aligning profit motives with safety while ensuring diverse perspectives shape AI decision-making.

💡 Key Takeaways:
✔ Traditional corporate governance struggles to manage AI’s societal risks.
✔ OpenAI’s challenges reveal the difficulty of balancing ethics and market pressures.
✔ Corporate boards need cognitive diversity to navigate AI’s complexities.
✔ Aligning profit incentives with safety measures can make AI governance more sustainable.

Understanding the Trade-Offs of the Amazon Antitrust Case

By Chiara Farronato, Andrey Fradkin, Andrei Hagiu, and Dionne Lomax

👉 The Big Idea: Amazon’s antitrust case raises fundamental questions about balancing innovation, competition, and consumer benefits.

📌 The Summary: The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is scrutinizing Amazon’s practices, particularly bundling the Prime badge with Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) and enforcing price parity across platforms. Critics argue these tactics limit seller choices and inflate costs, while Amazon defends them as necessary for customer experience consistency.

The debate isn’t black and white. While Amazon’s approach ensures convenience, it also consolidates power, limiting marketplace diversity. Regulators and businesses must find a middle ground—ensuring fairness without stifling the benefits of scale.

💡 Key Takeaways:
✔ Price parity rules can discourage competitive pricing across platforms.
✔ Sponsored listings may disadvantage smaller sellers and increase consumer costs.
✔ Behavioral remedies—like more transparency in ranking algorithms—could offer balanced solutions.
✔ The challenge is preserving consumer benefits while promoting fair competition.

Can the Construction Industry Be Disrupted?

By Mark Erlich

👉 The Big Idea: Construction is slowly adopting tech innovations like Building Information Modeling (BIM) and digital tools, but disruption remains evolutionary, not revolutionary.

📌 The Summary: The construction industry is often seen as resistant to change, but gradual shifts are happening. BIM is replacing traditional blueprints with 3D models, improving collaboration among architects, engineers, and contractors.

However, high costs and industry fragmentation limit widespread adoption. Tools like drones and exoskeletons are gaining traction, offering incremental improvements rather than radical disruption. The key takeaway? Construction will evolve through strategic tech integration, not overnight transformation.

💡 Key Takeaways:
✔ BIM enhances coordination and reduces costs by improving project planning.
✔ Small-scale tech adoption—like drones and digital tools—boosts efficiency without major disruption.
✔ Larger firms should lead in adopting high-cost innovations with long-term ROI in mind.
✔ Workforce training in digital tools is crucial for future industry shifts.

What Is Responsible Computing?

By Rashik Parmar, Marc Peters, and Llewellyn D.W. Thomas

👉 The Big Idea: Responsible computing integrates environmental, social, and ethical principles into IT, ensuring tech aligns with sustainability and ethical goals.

📌 The Summary: IBM’s Responsible Computing Framework tackles challenges like energy consumption, ethical AI, and data security. It includes six pillars: data centers, infrastructure, code, data, systems, and impact.

For instance, data centers consume massive energy, but efficiency improvements and renewable sources can help. Similarly, sustainable coding practices can reduce computational waste. Organizations must see IT as not just a cost center, but a force for positive change.

💡 Key Takeaways:
✔ Optimize data center energy use with efficient cooling and renewable energy.
✔ Promote ethical AI with fairness, transparency, and accountability.
✔ Train developers in sustainable coding to lower energy consumption.
✔ Align IT projects with UN Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs).
✔ Make responsible computing a company-wide initiative, not just an IT concern.

Generative AI and the Transformation of Knowledge Work

By Maryam Alavi and George Westerman

👉 The Big Idea: Generative AI is revolutionizing knowledge work by automating routine tasks and enhancing human cognitive abilities.

📌 The Summary: AI is reshaping both structured tasks (payroll processing) and unstructured tasks (creative problem-solving). By automating repetitive work, AI frees up employees for higher-value thinking.

For example, law firms use AI to draft contracts, allowing lawyers to focus on legal strategy. AI also enhances creativity and knowledge sharing, as seen in Duolingo’s AI-powered role-play feature. However, organizations must set clear policies to manage risks like bias and ethical concerns.

💡 Key Takeaways:
✔ Use AI to automate repetitive tasks, allowing employees to focus on creativity.
✔ AI can enhance problem-solving by generating diverse ideas.
✔ Clear guidelines are needed to manage AI’s risks and ensure ethical use.
✔ Encourage team-wide experimentation with AI to build collective intelligence

Web3 Could Change the Business Model of Creative Work

By Alex Tapscott

👉 The Big Idea: Web3 shifts control from platforms to creators, enabling direct monetization and ownership of digital content.

📌 The Summary: Unlike Web1 (read-only) and Web2 (read-write), Web3 introduces a read-write-own model, giving creators direct control over their work. Smart contracts and NFTs enable transparent royalty payments, ensuring fair compensation.

For example, MV3 uses NFTs to let fans co-create characters and narratives, fostering deeper engagement. Meanwhile, platforms like OTOY use blockchain for IP protection in digital rendering, democratizing high-end content creation. The big shift? Web3 reduces reliance on traditional gatekeepers in entertainment and media.

💡 Key Takeaways:
✔ Smart contracts ensure fair royalties for creators.
✔ NFTs allow fans to invest in and contribute to creative projects.
✔ Blockchain increases transparency in digital IP rights management.
✔ Web3 empowers creators by reducing dependence on large platforms.

The Year in Tech, 2025 is a fascinating look at how technology is changing the way we work and live.

It’s a great reminder that the real power of technology comes from how it helps us solve problems, connect, and create something better together.

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