Author: DA Gadgets

The last 25 years has seen some mind-bending technological changes.

At the start of the century, most computers connected to the internet with noisy dial-up connections, Netflix was an online DVD rental company, and the vast majority of people hadn’t even heard of a smartphone.

Fast forward two and a half decades, and innovations in AI, robotics and much else besides are emerging at an incredible rate.

So we decided to ask experts what the next 25 years could bring.

Here are their predictions for the technology we’ll be using by 2050 – and how it could reshape our lives.

Science fiction set in the 2050s is full of examples of humans using technological enhancements to feel fitter, happier and more productive.

In the 2000 hit game Deus Ex – set in 2052 – the player can inject themselves with tiny robots called “nanites”.

These microscopic robots manipulate matter on atomic levels, giving superhuman abilities such as enhanced speed and the ability to see in the dark.

It sounds like something from the distant future, but nanotechnology – engineering at a scale of millionths of a millimetre – is already used in lots of everyday real-life tech.

In fact, it is powering the way you are reading these very words right now – every smartphone or computer is run by a central chip made up of billions of tiny transistors – electrical components built on a nanoscale to speed up data processing.

Professor Steven Bramwell at the London Centre for Nanotechnology told the BBC by 2050 we should expect the lines between machines, electronics and biology to be “significantly blurred”.

That means we could see nanotechnology implants by then – but more to “monitor your health or aid communication” rather than to appear invisible, as in Deus Ex.

Medicine could also make common use of machines at a nanometre scale to “deliver drugs to exactly where they need to go”, said Professor Bramwell.

Cybernetics professor Kevin Warwick is equally interested in studying augmentations, going one step further than most.

In 1998 he became the first human to have a microchip implanted into his nervous system, earning him the title “Captain Cyborg”.

Professor Warwick believes by 2050, advancements in cybernetics – the science studying the links between natural and mechanical systems – could lead to trailblazing treatments for diseases.

He predicts the use of “deep brain electronic stimulation” as a partial treatment for some conditions such as schizophrenia, rather than medicine.

He adds it is likely we’ll see more cybernetic enhancements of the kind he has already trialled himself, so that “your brain and body can be in different places”.

And what if we wanted to test out how the latest enhancement, or even new diet worked on our bodies, without any risks of experiencing the side effects?

Professor Roger Highfield, director of the Science Museum Group believes “digital twins” – virtual versions of a physical object, updated using real time data – could become a regular feature in our lives.

He imagines a world where each of us could have “thousands of simplified twins”, using them to explore how “different medications or lifestyle changes affect your unique biology”.

In other words, we could preview our futures before we live them.

Many technology firms, including Google and IBM, are currently locked in a multi-billion dollar race to revolutionise how we push fields like AI even further – in the form of quantum computing.

Quantum computers are machines which can do very complex calculations at incredibly fast speeds – for example, simulating molecular interactions to design new drugs faster.

In January 2025, Jensen Huang – boss of the leading chip firm Nvidia – said he believed “very useful” quantum computing would come in 20 years.

AI itself will undoubtedly continue to loom large in our society as we journey towards the half century mark.

Futurist and author Tracey Follows, who helped write a government White Paper on UK education in 2050, believes learning will take place across “virtual and physical realities” using AI teachers which “adjust in real time”.

Rather than textbooks, she predicts children will use “immersive simulations”.

Meanwhile, education will be less standardised, with each child’s individual DNA or biometric data studied to understand how they learn best.

The writer Bill Douglass is well-versed in making compelling forecasts – in 2000 he won a $20,000 (£14,800) global futurist writing contest entitled “The World in 2050”.

While he still agrees one of his original predictions – pilotless planes – will come true by 2050, he believes we will first see more advances in driverless cars, making traffic congestion “largely a thing of the past”.

“Cars will drive so much closer to each other than they can now,” he told the BBC. “And if one has to break, they all break.

“On private toll roads for autonomous vehicles, there’s no reason traffic can’t go up to 100 miles an hour or so – you’ll see mortality from traffic accidents plummet.”

Away from Earth, the space race will equally continue at speed, journalist and co-host of the Space Boffins podcast Sue Nelson told the BBC.

She says in 25 years, it is likely there will be a liveable base on the Moon; and some industries could be almost entirely based in space.

For example, she believes we may see pharmaceutical companies making the next generation of medicines in microgravity, i.e. on board an orbiting spacecraft.

This is because, she says, crystals grown this way rather than on Earth, are “often larger and better quality”.

The film Minority Report, based on a novella by science fiction author Philip K Dick, was released in 2002 and set in the year 2054.

Three years before production began, director Steven Spielberg invited fifteen experts, including the founder of virtual reality Jaron Lanier, to a three-day summit to reflect on which technologies could possibly exist in the 2050s.

The discussions shaped many of the innovations featured in the film.

If the events of the Tom Cruise-starring science fiction thriller are to be believed, by the mid-2050s we will all be using gesture recognition (and fancy gloves) to swirl through videos on our transparent monitors, while policemen on jetpacks fight impending crime with the help of vomit-inducing batons.

Like much science fiction in the arts, the film paints a dystopian view of our future years.

It’s a feeling which some experts have begun to echo in our current timeline – with some going even as far as to suggest that artificial intelligence could lead to the extinction of humanity.

Perhaps before getting too despondent about what may await us in 2050, it’s worth returning to the words of Philip K Dick himself.

“I, for one, bet on science as helping us,” he wrote in his 1968 personal autobiographical essay Self Portrait.

“Science has given us more lives than it has taken,” he said.

“We must remember that.”

The cost of lots of the devices we all use could be forced up in 2026 because the price of Ram – once one of the cheapest computer components – has more than doubled since October 2025.

The tech powers everything from smartphones to smart TVs, as well as things like medical devices.

Its price has shot up because of the explosive growth in the data centres which power AI, which need Ram too.

That’s caused an imbalance between supply and demand which means everyone has to pay more.

Manufacturers often choose to swallow small cost increases, but big ones tend to get passed on to consumers.

And these increases are anything but small.

“We are being quoted costs around 500% higher than they were only a couple of months ago,” said Steve Mason, general manager of CyberPowerPC, which builds computers.

He said there “will come a point” where these increased component costs will “force” manufacturers to “make decisions about pricing”.

“If it uses memory, or storage, there is the potential for price increases,” he said.

“The manufacturers will have choices to make, as will consumers.”

Ram – or random access memory – is used to store code while you use a device. It is a critical component of almost every kind of computer.

Without it would be impossible for you to read this article, for example.

And with the component being so ubiquitous, Danny Williams from rival computer building site PCSpecialist said he expected price increases to continue “well into 2026”.

“The market has been very buoyant in 2025 and if memory prices do not fall back a little I would expect a reduction in consumer demand in 2026,” he said.

He said he’d seen “a varied impact” across different Ram producers.

“Some vendors have larger inventories and therefore their price increases are more subtle at perhaps 1.5x to 2x,” he said.

But he said other firms did not have a large amount of stock – and they had increased prices by “up to 5x” more.

Chris Miller, author of Chip War, called AI “the main factor” driving demand for computer memory.

“There’s been a surge of demand for memory chips, driven above all by the high-end High Bandwidth Memory that AI requires,” he said.

“This has led to higher prices across different types of memory chips.”

He said prices “often fluctuate dramatically” based on “demand and supply” – and demand is significantly up right now.

And Mike Howard from Tech Insights told the BBC it came down to cloud service providers finalising their memory requirements for 2026 and 2027.

He said that gave the people who make Ram a clear picture of demand – and it was “unmistakeable” that supply “will not meet the levels that Amazon, Google, and other hyperscalers are planning for”.

“With both demand clarity and supply constraints converging, suppliers have steadily pushed prices upward, in some cases aggressively,” he said.

“Some suppliers have even paused issuing price quotes, a rare move that signals confidence that future prices will rise further.”

He said some manufacturers will have seen this coming and built up their inventory ahead of time to help mitigate the price rises – but called those firms “outliers”.

“In PCs, memory typically accounts for 15 to 20 percent of total cost, but current pricing has pushed that toward 30 to 40 percent,” he said.

“Margins in most consumer categories are not deep enough to absorb these increases.”

With prices trending upwards, customers will likely be left deciding whether to pay more or accept a less powerful device.

“Most of the market intelligence we have received would suggest pricing and supply will be a challenge worldwide throughout 2026 into 2027,” Mr Mason said.

And some big firms have turned their nose up at the consumer market altogether.

Micron, previously one of the biggest sellers of Ram, announced in December it would stop selling its Crucial brand to focus on AI demand.

“It removes one of the biggest players from the market,” Mr Mason said.

“On the one hand, that’s less choice for consumers – on the other hand, if their entire production ploughs into AI, it should free up capacity for the others to make more for consumers, so it may balance out.”

Mr Howard said a typical laptop, with 16GB of Ram, could see its manufacturing cost increase by $40 to $50 (£30 to £37) in 2026 – and this “will likely be passed on to consumers”.

“Smartphones will also see upwards pressure on their prices,” he said.

“A typical smartphone could see it’s cost to build increase $30 which, again, will likely get passed on directly to consumer.”

And Mr Williams said there might be another outcome of increased prices too.

“Computers are a commodity – an everyday item that people need in a modern day world,” he said.

“With the increase in memory prices, consumers will need to decide to either pay a higher price for the performance they need, or accept a compromise in a lower performing device.”

There is, of course, another option, says Mr Williams – consumers might have to “make do with old tech for a little longer.”

China has proposed strict new rules for artificial intelligence (AI) to provide safeguards for children and prevent chatbots from offering advice that could lead to self-harm or violence.

Under the planned regulations, developers will also need to ensure their AI models do not generate content that promotes gambling.

The announcement comes after a surge in the number of chatbots being launched in China and around the world.

Once finalised, the rules will apply to AI products and services in China, marking a major move to regulate the fast-growing technology, which has come under intense scrutiny over safety concerns this year.

The draft rules, which were published at the weekend by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), include measures to protect children. They include requiring AI firms to offer personalised settings, have time limits on usage and getting consent from guardians before providing emotional companionship services.

Chatbot operators must have a human take over any conversation related to suicide or self-harm and immediately notify the user’s guardian or an emergency contact, the administration said.

AI providers must ensure that their services do not generate or share “content that endangers national security, damages national honour and interests [or] undermines national unity”, the statement said.

The CAC said it encourages the adoption of AI, such as to promote local culture and create tools for companionship for the elderly, provided that the technology is safe and reliable. It also called for feedback from the public.

Chinese AI firm DeepSeek made headlines worldwide this year after it topped app download charts.

This month, two Chinese startups Z.ai and Minimax, which together have tens of millions of users, announced plans to list on the stock market.

The technology has quickly gained huge numbers of subscribers with some using it for companionship or therapy.

The impact of AI on human behaviour has come under increased scrutiny in recent months.

Sam Altman, the head of ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, said this year that the way chatbots respond to conversations related to self-harm is among the company’s most difficult problems.

In August, a family in California sued OpenAI over the death of their 16-year-old son, alleging that ChatGPT encouraged him to take his own life. The lawsuit marked the first legal action accusing OpenAI of wrongful death.

This month, the company advertised for a “head of preparedness” who will be responsible for defending against risks from AI models to human mental health and cybersecurity.

The successful candidate will be responsible for tracking AI risks that could pose a harm to people. Mr Altman said: “This will be a stressful job, and you’ll jump into the deep end pretty much immediately.”

If you are suffering distress or despair and need support, you could speak to a health professional, or an organisation that offers support. Details of help available in many countries can be found at Befrienders Worldwide: www.befrienders.org.

In the UK, a list of organisations that can help is available at bbc.co.uk/actionline. Readers in the US and Canada can call the 988 suicide helpline or visit its website.

TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance has signed a deal with investors to run its business in the US.

But what does this mean for the over 170 million Americans (or so the social media platform claims) who use the app?

The key may lie in how TikTok’s recommendation algorithm – the powerful system that curates the platform’s For You Page to predict content you might watch – is managed when it changes hands.

Social media industry expert Matt Navarra told the BBC the question will not be whether TikTok survives, but “what version of TikTok survives”.

Currently, TikTok’s system depends on huge amounts of global data and feedback loops, which can change recommendations in an instant.

Under the terms of the deal TikTok’s algorithm, which will be licensed by investor Oracle, is set to be retrained on American user data.

Mr Navarra said this could leave the app feeling “safer and sturdier” but also leaving it at a risk of “becoming less culturally essential” as a result.

“TikTok’s power has always come from feeling slightly out of control – weird, niche, uncomfortable, sometimes politically sharp content for anyone else or before it goes anywhere else,” he said.

“If you start smoothing those edges, you don’t just change moderation. I think you change its relevance.”

Whether the US version will differ from the TikTok so many know and use already may also depend on if it gets “all the new features, security updates and platform improvements” as soon as the international version does, tech journalist Will Guyatt told the BBC.

And computing expert Kokil Jaidka from the National University of Singapore said she expected the things that make the platform popular – such as its short videos and shopping – are likely to “stay intact” as these features are not dependent on the algorithm.

She said the changes might be more subtle and gradual, depending on if the narrower data inputs of the “siloed” US version can match the app’s global reach.

“If TikTok is operating with a licensed or partially diluted version of its recommendation algorithm, some of the system’s blind spots may start to matter more,” she said.

For users, she said this means in practice the US algorithm may “lag in personalisation” and take longer to adapt to viral content.

Oracle is TikTok’s longtime cloud computing partner in the United States, and is chaired by Larry Ellison, an ally of President Trump.

Another foreign entity, MGX – an Abu-Dhabi government investment fund – will join it along with private equity firm Silver Lake as the main incoming investors.

Pressure from these investors may also add to the US app feeling “blander” said Mr Navarra.

“I think the real test won’t be whether the users leave,” he said.

“It will be whether TikTok still feels the place the internet goes to experiment – or if it becomes the place it goes to behave.”

Additional reporting by Peter Hoskins.