SAS 2025 predictions: AI gets specialized and sustainable

AI has dominated the headlines – and tech industry predictions – for the past few years. Will 2025 be any different? (Spoiler alert: no). However, several AI themes will come into focus such as model specialization, regulatory challenges, environmental sustainability, and more.

Executives and experts across SAS, the leader in data and AI, looked ahead to predict trends and key business and technology developments for 2025. Here are some of the predictions they shared.

Visit SAS’ 2025 AI predictions page for more trends and forecasts.

Faster model training reduces AI carbon footprint

Speed and algorithmic efficiency cannot be ignored as critical levers to reduce cloud consumption. While energy-hungry AI will continue to fuel the drive toward sustainable energy sources including nuclear, it will also increase demand for more energy efficient models. Just like the home appliance industry and auto industry made huge advancements in energy efficiency, we must make AI models more efficient.

-           Bryan Harris, Chief Technology Officer, SAS

AI attacks threaten our way of life

AI’s ability to personalize and operate at massive scale is reshaping how we interact with information, including the rise of misinformation and manipulation of social norms. AI attacks can happen on an individual, group or at the institutional level – threatening our ways of life. Democratic societies and their governments have a vested interest in protecting good faith civil discourse, elections and maintaining cultural norms. To help mitigate the threat, business leaders need to own the conversation on ethical use of AI within the organization by doubling down on organizational values and publishing AI principles, policies, standards and controls.

-           Steven Tiell, Global Head of AI Governance Advisory, SAS

Flaming data dumpsters fuel the AI divide

2025 will reveal some organizations are thriving with generative AI – outpacing the competition, creating specialized customer experiences, launching innovative products faster. But other organizations are falling behind in the generative AI race. They’re abandoning the wave of projects begun in 2023 because they overlooked a critical reality: AI needs good data. Poor data impedes AI performance, and organizations need to be brave enough to step back and fix their pervasive data issues.  

-           Marinela Profi, Global GenAI/AI Market Strategy Lead, SAS

GenAI hype cycle comes back down to Earth

Generative AI will never not be cool, but we’ve reached a point where we give a slight nod to the hype cycle, then get down to the business of delivering real business value. This happens by simplifying our approaches, rules and models, and complementing them with the targeted use of large language models (LLMs) and specialized small language models (SLMs). Keep a close eye on that Nvidia stock.

-           Jared Peterson, Senior Vice President, Platform Engineering, SAS

Cloud providers and AI users will share environmental responsibility

The rush to adopt AI is leading to inefficient models that consume vast amounts of cloud resources and contribute to a larger carbon footprint. It is not only up to hardware providers and hyperscalers to reduce environmental impact – it’s a shared responsibility with the AI users managing data and AI workloads. Greater efficiency in AI model development – made possible by cloud-optimized data and AI platforms – will help to reduce unnecessary duplication and waste and minimize energy consumption.

-           Jerry Williams, Chief Environmental Officer, SAS

The titans of tomorrow are AI augmented today

Fully AI-enabled organizations are the ones that will win the IT battles of 2025. As generative AI evolves from a “shiny new toy” to “just” another type of AI, organizations will fully operationalize all forms of AI to automate routine tasks that free employees for higher-value work. Those automations mean they’ll make decisions faster, recognize opportunities more quickly, and drive more innovation than competitors. In short: they’ll win.

-           Jay Upchurch, Chief Information Officer, SAS

LLMs get commoditized… and specialized

In 2025, LLMs will become commoditized, leading to AI pricing models collapsing as base-level capabilities are offered for free. The real value will shift to specialized services and domain-specific applications built on top of these models. Simultaneously, the rise of open-source LLMs will challenge the dominance of a few key providers, driving a more decentralized AI landscape where customization and integration will be the key differentiators.

-           Udo Sglavo, Vice President, Applied AI & Modeling, R&D, SAS

AI and cloud acceleration will trigger a Great IT Rationalization

Businesses have long run on siloed systems, each serving a different function or customer segment. IT teams are buckling under the weight of cumbersome integrations, unable to provide the agility their enterprises need. A Great IT Rationalization is on the horizon, where business leaders will leverage the cloud to simplify their IT infrastructures and vendor relationships, gain critical speed and cut costs. Those who modernize on a cloud-native, AI-powered platform that drives multiple functions will derive the greatest value. They can achieve integrated, democratized data and decisioning capabilities that span the customer life cycle and the enterprise at large.

-           Stu Bradley, Sr. Vice President, Risk, Fraud and Compliance Solutions, SAS

GenAI gets personal (and more advanced) for marketers

In 2025, marketers will move aggressively from simpler applications of GenAI focused on productivity and content generation to more advanced AI capabilities driving competitive advantage and revenue growth. Going beyond LLMs, marketers will embrace GenAI tools like synthetic data and digital twins as well as established AI technologies like machine and deep learning to deliver personalized experiences and effective campaigns while respecting customer privacy.

-           Jennifer Chase, Chief Marketing Officer, SAS

Save the Date

This spring, you can hear live from SAS executives about their predictions and explore the latest in data and AI. Join business leaders and analytics experts for SAS Innovate, May 6-9, 2025, in Orlando, FL. Sign up today for updates on the conference and to save the date.

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In 2025, SAS experts predict movement toward AI model specialization & environmental sustainability.