A year ago, it sometimes felt like AI had spread everywhere in some way, but it was just a preview of how AI is invading people's lives, for better or worse.
It would take a whole series of books to cover every transformative update, every flashy launch, and every embarrassing misstep from the biggest AI brands: OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Apple Intelligence, not to mention every single AI developer.
Still, there are some key highlights to remember before 2025 turns the landscape upside down again.
ChatGPT's endless upgrades
It's difficult to talk about AI in 2024 without putting ChatGPT front and center. OpenAI seemed determined to stay in the spotlight, releasing one groundbreaking update after another.
GPT-4o was introduced in May, followed by streamlining GPT-4o, initiated the multimodal development of ChatGPT in processing handle text, images, audio and video. The release of the o1 model in December brought a new level of reasoning with sharper and more insightful answers. It proves to be an invaluable tool for everything from coding challenges to creative brainstorming.
ChatGPT's expanded voice mode brought new voice interactions with a range of lifelike voices – including Santa Claus – to ChatGPT. If you haven't talked about the app, OpenAI has even set up the toll-free hotline 1-800-CHATGPT to call and interact with ChatGPT.
Filmmakers spent most of the year eagerly awaiting the launch of Sora, OpenAI's text-to-video model. While Sora's ability to create animated videos has only recently become available to non-professional filmmakers, it is now available to creative minds or marketers within a specific time limit.
Creative collaboration was also the pitch for ChatGPT's Canvas mode, which enables real-time collaboration with AI while editing and refining projects. To help keep things organized, OpenAI also introduced Projects, a feature that groups conversations and files into neat folders. And the advanced ChatGPT search feature helps keep all of this information current and accurate.
To top it all off, OpenAI ended the year with its celebratory 12 Days of OpenAI event, which featured daily updates like WhatsApp integration, a new ChatGPT Pro tier for $200 per month, and a sneak peek of what's to come The O3 model introduced the chatbot. That likely helped distract from the hour-long outage in December caused by a Microsoft data center failure. The level of outrage may not have been great PR, but it made it undeniably clear how widespread ChatGPT has become since the start of 2024.
Google Gemini's Leap
Google Gemini didn't even exist when 2024 ended. Just in February, Bard became Gemini, and this rebranding was part of Google's years-long effort to surpass OpenAI by integrating AI into everything it does. A shiny new Gemini app for Android and a Gemini Advanced subscription tier immediately started competing with ChatGPT, and the upgrades soon followed.
In May, Google launched Gemini 1.5, an updated version with more processing power and an expanded context window, making it smarter and better understanding complex queries. But the real magic began over the summer, when Gemini intelligence made its way into Google Home devices and took over Google Assistant in more places.
The highlight came in September with Gemini Live, a feature that lets you have real-time voice conversations using AI. The ChatGPT competition continued with custom chatbots called Gems, and a month later an iPhone app launched, complete with integrations with other Google apps on iOS.
The grand finale came in December with the release of Gemini 2.0, a massive upgrade with better, faster responses, photo analysis and more. Not to mention, many features exclusive to Google Pixel phones also tie into the rest of the Google ecosystem.
Apple Intelligence is finally ready
Rumors about Apple's AI plans have been circulating for years, but in 2024 Apple Intelligence finally hit the market. The initiative seemed inevitable and unique to Apple when it was unveiled at WWDC in June.
The design was definitely Apple's, but there was a notable level of integration with existing AI models. Notably, Apple will allow its revamped voice assistant Siri to rely on ChatGPT for answers and various questions. We're also still waiting for Siri's promised ability to view, understand, and perform tasks within applications.
Even with different branding, Apple's AI tools seemed primarily aimed at matching or exceeding the capabilities available from OpenAI and Google. For example, Apple Intelligence supports the image creator Image Playground as well as Genmoji, which allows you to design your own emojis.
The most striking aspect is probably that Apple Intelligence primarily uses Apple hardware to run AI processes locally or on its highly secure private cloud compute servers. This allows Apple Intelligence to work faster and promise more data protection.
While OpenAI, Google and Apple dominated the headlines, AI had a much bigger impact thanks to other big brands. For example, Meta introduced the virtual assistant Meta AI, embedded it into Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, and improved and expanded its capabilities (including some celebrity voices) throughout the year. Meta also wants to be the year of AI smart glasses next year by embedding Meta AI into Meta Quest headsets as well as the Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses. Oh, and who could forget the unveiling of the Orion augmented reality glasses prototype?
However, not all AI hardware performed so well this year. The hype around products like the Rabbit R1, a small AI-centric device, and wearables like the Humane AI Pin and the Plaud NotePin was huge at the start of the year, but they have all quickly faded since then and may only be as successful Niche products.
If 2024 has proven one thing, it's that artificial intelligence has officially outgrown its shiny new technology phase and burst into our lives as a full-fledged revolution. ChatGPT, Gemini, Apple Intelligence and their competitors have all shown how AI tools can be impressive and even genuinely useful when used correctly.
That doesn't mean that 2025 won't be without its missteps and mistakes, but it certainly suggests that it will become, in some ways, a standard part of many digital activities, whether it's trying to host a game night with friends, to entertain or educate children, or organize our diets and cooking plans. This year has shown what AI can do; Next year the question will be: Which of these skills should AI actually take over for us?