This week, our data visualizations focus on technology trends shaping our world, from the AI revolution to the future of energy and more.
Artificial intelligence has had a big year. Evolving quickly from a technological novelty to an everyday tool, AI has surged in both adoption and investments since 2020. Equity investments in AI reached $124.3 billion in 2024, reflecting the increasing financial backing of AI technologies, note Senior Partner Sven Smit and coauthors. The job market for AI-related roles also expanded, with a 35 percent increase in job postings from 2023 to 2024. Despite widespread adoption of the technology, however, McKinsey research has found that only 1 percent of leaders believe their companies have reached full maturity in their AI deployments.
Image description:
A bubble chart illustrates the relationship between interest and innovation scores for artificial intelligence, with the size and color of the bubbles representing equity investment and adoption rate, respectively. The chart shows a clear upward trend from 2020 to 2024, with the bubble for 2024 being the largest and darkest blue, indicating a high adoption rate and significant equity investment of $124.3 billion. The innovation score has increased from just below 0.5 in 2020 to around 0.9 in 2024, while the interest score has risen from about 0.2 to 0.9 over the same period. Additionally, the chart highlights a 35% gain in job postings between 2023 and 2024.
Note: This image description was completed with the assistance of Writer, a gen AI tool.
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To read the report, see “McKinsey Technology Trends Outlook 2025,” July 22, 2025.