A Year In Review: AI in 2024

It is hard to fathom how much the world has changed since November of 2022, when ChatGPT entered the mainstream and most of the general public got their first glimpse of generative AI’s capabilities. Within days, ChatGPT gained millions of users, a rate of adoption highlighting the technology’s democratizing effect on how individuals and businesses alike think about AI use cases.

But it also reshaped the startup tech community. There are over 70,000 AI companies worldwide building and scaling in 2024. That is on top of 82% of all businesses that report they are leveraging AI in some capacity. This creates more opportunities for AI-startups to come in and meet the needs of both enterprises and new customers.

A Looks Back At AI In 2024

This year proved pivotal for both AI startups and large corporations alike. Before we look at how local AI startups evolved this year, let’s take a look back at the national and international trends that drove the startup world in 2024:

National and International Headlines:

1. AI Rules The VC World 

Talk to most founders out there and they will tell you about the slow…sometimes glacial…pace of fundraising in 2024. But novel AI startups had less trouble finding financial backers. AI deals accounted for 37 percent of the $38 billion raised by VC-backed companies last quarter alone, according to available Crunchbase data. As of November, 44 US AI startups raised over $100 million in venture capital this year, according to a running list from Techcrunch. The vast majority are based in The Bay Area or New York.

2. AI Gets Nichey 

Startups increasingly focused on solving specialized problems, ranging from legal tech to robotics, to coding assistance or finding critical minerals needed to fuel our digital future. This trend brought more targeted innovation into the AI landscape.

3. The rise of Multimodal AI 

Multimodal AI took off in 2024, as more platforms looked to bring text, images, audio, and video into unified models. For many startups, multimodal AI technologies created more opportunities to improve user interactions, build better chatbots, and more robust platforms.

4. AI’s Copyright Challenges 

Lawsuits against AI giants like OpenAI, Google, and others from legacy media organizations dominated the headlines in 2024. The core debate? What content is fair use for generative AI to use in its models and in its outputs. Many of the cases are still pending….

Now, let’s zoom into what happened in the Southeast:

AI and AI-enabled startups grew significantly in the Southeast this year. The biggest AI stories on Hypepotamus this year included:

• One of the biggest things we witnessed this year was the rise of an AI community, largely centered around the meetings of the AI Tinkerers group 

• Startup Atlanta awarded its best new startup award to GenAI Healthcare, an Atlanta-based startup focused on bringing personalized medicine to life.

• CareYaya, the North Carolina healthtech startup pushed into AI as a way to improve elderly care

• Fast food giants like Waffle House started embracing AI for hiring, thanks to Tampa-based startup Chattr

• Armed with $21.5 million Series B, AI startup Document Crunch says it has plans to grow its Atlanta-based workforce

What trends are experts following?

Ahead of 2025, we spoke to AI experts in the Southeast to see what AI trends they are following coming into the new year.

Cybersecurity and AI expert Jon Powell, partner at Moore Colson, told Hypepotamus that he is tracking how AI evolves from its current infancy phase.

“There is more research, testing, refinement (and repeat) required to develop solutions for all of the potential use cases out there.  Additionally, there are still quite a few issues to work through including accuracy of responses and errant hallucinations,” Powell said.

Moving into 2025, Powell said he is following “SEC’s continued guidance and expansion on cybersecurity disclosure requirements” and how it will impact the technology space.

For Levi Perkins and Georgii Speakman, CEO and CMO of Atlanta-based Hannibal AI, 2025 should be the year that founders embrace AI as  “strategic imperative.”

“AI is no longer just a tool for tech companies—it’s a business essential across industries. Leaders should focus on leveraging AI to streamline operations, enhance customer experiences, and drive data-informed decision-making. Whether it’s automating routine tasks or enabling predictive analytics, integrating AI into core business functions will be crucial to staying competitive. Investing in employee training and fostering a culture of AI literacy will ensure that teams are equipped to maximize the technology’s potential,” the Hannibal AI team added.