The holidays are behind us (sigh), and if your decorations are still up, consider this a gentle nudge from your friends at GWI to pack them away. Meanwhile, in Belgium, the government issued a public warning: please don’t eat your Christmas tree needles - no matter how tempting they might look.
Scroll down to read about the AI arms race, indoor golf, and adorable robots.
Stats to power your week
🤖 Now that CES has just wrapped up, it’s a good time to take stock of the technologies people are most excited about. Artificial intelligence tops the list at 48%, followed by the Internet of Things (e.g., smart home products) at 34%, and clean energy solutions at 32%. We’re seeing that consumer demand isn’t just about what’s cool - it’s about what’s useful, too. GWI Core
🎯 New year, new you? Maybe not quite. Just 5% of resolution makers last year achieved all their goals - but hey, 42% say they “achieved some,” and that’s practically an A in our book. The US leads the way with the highest percentage of resolution achievers, while the UK takes the crown for the most people who didn’t achieve a single one. GWI Zeitgeist
⛳ With the inaugural season of the Tomorrow Golf League led by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy kicking off, the sport is clearly looking to attract younger fans. Right now, it’s the older generations who dominate golf viewership with 24% of over-65s following golf, compared to 18% of 16-24s. GWI Core (UK/US)
🏢 Some professions simply require an on-site presence. You just can’t perform surgery without a surgeon, or build a product without a maker. But as more companies in other industries enforce return-to-work mandates, one profession stands out for its remote-first culture: software development. Just a quarter of developers work exclusively in the office, while on the flip side, 56% of hospitality and leisure workers are office-bound. GWI Work
🗨️ As Meta ends its fact-checking program in favor of user-generated notes on posts, accuracy remains the most important priority for consumers when sharing content, followed by user safety, and being informative. Interestingly, free speech ranks fourth, ahead of both entertainment and creativity. GWI Zeitgeist
What’s on our radar
Food brands are used to promoting healthy and meat-free options at this time of year, but one thing to watch is growing scrutiny around plastic contamination. An independent research group has helped put it on the agenda, while the Clean Label Project is also highlighting metal contamination in foods. Help us, bacteria!
If you attended CES last week, we hope you received a glance from the adorable Mirumi. Perhaps in 2025 we’ll say goodbye to bag charms and attach this fluffball instead.
Peacock is testing mini-games and vertical short videos to make streaming more interactive. On the other end of the spectrum, Netflix is reportedly telling writers to simplify scripts for casual viewing, so people can follow along while they scroll.
The AI arms race is heating up. Anthropic is in talks to raise $2 billion, which would value it at $60 billion - more than triple last year’s valuation. Meanwhile, Meta and Google are pouring billions into their own AI advancements, with each company racing to outpace the others. Oh, and AI chiefs are convinced big breakthroughs are coming soon.
Getty Images and Shutterstock are gearing up for their own race, announcing a $3.7 billion merger to tackle the challenges of AI-generated content (who knew stock images could be so exciting?). Meanwhile, the artist formerly known as Kanye West is continuing to experiment with AI tools.
Continuing a trend we saw before the US election, Meta, Amazon, and McDonald’s have rolled back corporate diversity programs, while Apple is pushing back on mounting pressure from conservative groups.
The DEI rollback might be linked to another ongoing trend: gender polarization, with a new study in Norway shedding light on the growing division. If men and women are polarized, they’re less likely to couple up and have children. Not to mention young men are likely to be a key group driving the rise of the Reform Party in the UK.
Chart of the week
Digital-only banks are shaking up the financial world, particularly in Latin America and APAC. In Brazil, 73% of consumers have a digital-only bank account, compared to just 22% in Canada. The Philippines tells a similar story, with digital banking adoption at 63% - nearly double the UK’s 31%.
This popularity isn’t among just tech-savvy consumers. Many of these countries leapfrogged traditional banking infrastructure, diving headfirst into the convenience of digital platforms. Plus, features like automatic savings tools (the top request from consumers when asked how they’d like their bank to provide help with finances), make digital banks particularly appealing.
Sure, traditional banks still dominate in most countries, but the shift is clear: digital-first banking is stealing the spotlight, especially in regions where adaptability and innovation are driving financial accessibility.
Local lowdown
Turkey’s tech delight
All eyes were on Vegas last week to get a glimpse of futuristic technology, but to find the people most excited about it, you’d be better off heading to the Bosphorus. Consumers in Turkey show the highest levels of enthusiasm worldwide for excitement about robotics, space exploration, virtual and augmented reality, and artificial intelligence. Phew.
You can track this throughout the country’s history: from innovation in the Ottoman Empire, Atatürk's emphasis on science and tech during the first years of independence, the influence of America during the 50s and 60s, and the surge of growth spurred by economic liberalization in the 80s. And Turkish tech has played a big role in the world stage in recent years, from military drones to the first Covid-19 vaccine, developed by a German couple of Turkish heritage.
You see the Turkish affection for technology in other parts of their lives - they also lead the world in owning cryptocurrency, and listening to music on high-end audio equipment. Beyond that, the Turkish Space Agency sent its first astronaut to space last year and has plans to send a rover to the Moon. Turkey isn’t just looking forward to the future, but actively shaping it. As they sing in Turkish primary schools: “Gelecek biziz” (“We are the future”).
