Ask HN: What non-obvious tech/market may take off in the next few years?

Hi HN, I'm trying to find some exciting but not-yet-mainstream tech or market to look into.

For the last couple of years I've been completely focused on one field and have not been staying on top of what the latest hot tech trend is, so kind of lost what I should be looking at. Note that I'm not just chasing some tech hype, but just want to know what I've been missing out on.

This doesn't have to be brand new tech per se, but could be a re-application of a previously failed technology which makes sense now because the world has changed.

Please share anything you think is really cool that may take off soon. Also would be nice if you shared the reason for why you think it will be the next couple of years when they take off to mainstream. Thank you!

Deep learning will continue to surprise

One idea I've had (heavily influenced by The Diamond Age, I must admit) - a premium video game experience where NPCs you meet are sometimes voiced/acted by actors hired real-time on-demand with face or even body mocap. The NPCs revert back to regular AI versions if an actor is unable to be hired at that time. The player could interact by speaking with their own voice, naturally role-playing the scene. This would of course be astonishingly expensive, but people are clearly willing to spend a lot of money on video games these days so there might be a market. You could create the company providing the real-time on-demand acting service to whatever game company wants to integrate with your services, either contracting or hiring actors to wait around for requests. They could even work from home if their internet setup is good enough.

Reasons this sector might take off: recent greater consumer spending on video games (especially with the pandemic) & their normalization as a field of entertainment, recent greater consumer spending on online services where you pay to interact with actors (although they're all of the, er, amorous type), and the growing popularity of mixed reality driven by the release of Half Life: Alyx.

Generically engineered plants for the home

Specialized Accounting / Bookkeeping Services.