2024 was a big year for LLMs — here’s what to expect in 2025

Large language models (LLMs) made significant advances in scientific research during 2024, particularly in psychology, neuroscience, and autonomous vehicle development, setting the stage for expanded applications in 2025.

Key 2024 achievements: Several breakthrough studies demonstrated LLMs’ growing capabilities in scientific and medical applications.

• Researchers used Google’s BERT model to identify linguistic productivity milestones in child development
• Studies showed convergence between LLM processing patterns and human brain activity
• OpenAI’s GPT-4 demonstrated comparable performance to human neuroradiologists in diagnosing brain tumors
• Talk2Drive framework successfully integrated LLMs into autonomous vehicle voice command systems

Research methodology developments: LLMs are increasingly being incorporated into the scientific research process itself.

• A survey by the Allen Institute for AI found that over 80% of published authors used LLMs in their research workflow
• Scientists employed LLMs for tasks ranging from data analysis to writing and editing
• Growing emphasis on transparency and disclosure regarding LLM usage in research

Healthcare and neuroscience applications: The integration of LLMs with medical diagnostics and brain research showed promising results.

• New studies combined LLMs with brain activity imaging technologies including fMRI, MEG, and EEG
• Digital e-tattoos emerged as a novel method for recording neural activity
• LLMs demonstrated superior predictive capabilities compared to human neuroscience experts in specific tasks

Emerging trends for 2025: Several key developments are expected to shape LLM research and applications in the coming year.

• Increased evaluation of LLMs using principles from cognitive psychology and human behavior
• Expanded use of LLMs to analyze complex biological data and neural activity patterns
• Greater integration of conversational AI in human speech and language applications
• Enhanced focus on LLM applications in transportation and autonomous vehicles

Future implications: While LLMs have shown impressive capabilities in specialized scientific applications, the growing adoption of these tools raises important questions about transparency, validation, and the changing nature of scientific research methodology.