By Margaret Russell 
A concise roadmap to the near future across AI, quantum, biotech, connectivity, energy, space, immersive tech, climate solutions, and jobs. Based on the Kursiv overview and current evidence.
Core Technology Shifts, 2025–2030
Artificial Intelligence: Automation and Decision Support
AI moves from pilots to default infrastructure. Productivity gains scale across functions; McKinsey models a potential ~$13T boost to global output by 2030, with gen-AI contributing $2.6–$4.4T per year across use cases. Roles expand around model ops, evaluation, safety, and governance.
Quantum: From Advantage Experiments to Networks
Quantum progress is uneven but real. Work pivots from qubit counts to networking and specific advantages. Cisco unveiled a prototype quantum-networking chip and a new lab; practical quantum-secure links and QKD demos on commercial fiber keep improving. Expect focused early wins in chemistry, optimization, and timing.
Biotechnology: Personalized and Programmable
Biotech trends converge on gene editing, cell and gene therapies, and data-driven care. Scaling moves from trials to targeted approvals and platformized pipelines. Expect more companion diagnostics and individualized dosing. See “emerging tech” trackers for impact windows.
Connectivity: 6G and the Quantum Internet
6G work formalizes under the ITU IMT-2030 vision. Evaluation and specs continue through the late 2020s with initial deployments around 2030. In parallel, quantum-internet testbeds mature, linking nodes with entanglement and pushing standards.
Energy: Fusion Signals and Storage Leapfrogs
ITER’s “first plasma 2025” milestone has been revised; the project targets a new phased schedule, reflecting technical rework. Meanwhile, battery R&D advances solid-state, faster-charge chemistries for EVs and grid storage. Direct-air-capture scales from Orca to Mammoth, though realized capture lags nameplate capacity.
Space: Commercial Lunar Logistics First
Private landers and CLPS deliveries expand lunar access. Schedules slip, but cadence rises as vendors iterate; Artemis partners and commercial providers build the supply chain for sustained surface work.
XR and Digital Twins: From Demos to Daily Tools
AR/VR shifts from entertainment to operations. “Digital twin” practices compress design–test cycles in aerospace and manufacturing and become routine for complex assets.
Climate Tech: CO₂ Removal and Green Power
DAC plants increase capacity, with Mammoth as the current scale leader, but cost and throughput remain constraints. Expect stronger scrutiny of verification and energy inputs alongside parallel growth in solar, wind, and hydrogen.
Work and Skills in Transition
Roles Likely to Shrink
Routine accounting, basic clerical processing, low-discretion driving, and template content creation. Task shares, not entire professions, decline first.
Roles Likely to Grow
AI product owners, model evaluators, prompt and data engineers, cybersecurity analysts, biotech process engineers, and XR workflow designers.
How to Prepare
Prioritize critical thinking, statistical literacy, secure-by-design habits, and continuous upskilling. Treat AI as a co-worker and audit trail, not a black box.
What Leading Futurists Emphasize
Ray Kurzweil: Human-Level AI and Human-Machine Merge
Kurzweil reiterates human-level AI near the end of this decade and a longer arc toward deep human–AI integration. Expect debate over ethics, access, and governance.
Amy Webb: Convergence as the Supercycle
Webb’s 2025 trends frame AI, biotech, and advanced sensors as the core convergence shaping markets and institutions. Signal mapping over hype is the practice.
Gerd Leonhard: Ethics and Human-Centric Design
Leonhard argues for explicit guardrails, digital well-being, and education that elevates non-automatable skills like creativity and judgment.
Notes on the Source
This rewrite preserves the structure and claims of the original Kursiv article while aligning them with current timelines and evidence. Where original timelines were optimistic, updated references are provided.