AI trends 2026

Here are some of the the major AI trends shaping 2026 — based on current expert forecasts, industry reports, and recent developments in technology. The material is analyzed using AI tools and final version hand-edited to this blog text:

1. Generative AI Continues to Mature

Generative AI (text, image, video, code) will become more advanced and mainstream, with notable growth in:
* Generative video creation
* Gaming and entertainment content generation
* Advanced synthetic data for simulations and analytics
This trend will bring new creative possibilities — and intensify debates around authenticity and copyright.

2. AI Agents Move From Tools to Autonomous Workers

Rather than just answering questions or generating content, AI systems will increasingly act autonomously, performing complex, multi-step workflows and interacting with apps and processes on behalf of users — a shift sometimes called agentic AI. These agents will become part of enterprise operations, not just assistant features.

3. Smaller, Efficient & Domain-Specific Models

Instead of “bigger is always better,” specialized AI models tailored to specific industries (healthcare, finance, legal, telecom, manufacturing) will start to dominate in many enterprise applications. These models are more accurate, legally compliant, and cost-efficient than general models.

4. AI Embedded Everywhere

AI won’t be an add-on feature — it will be built into everyday software and devices:
* Office apps with intelligent drafting, summarization, and task insights
* Operating systems with native AI
* Edge devices processing AI tasks locally
This makes AI pervasive in both work and consumer contexts.

5. AI Infrastructure Evolves: Inference & Efficiency Focus

More investment is going into inference infrastructure — the real-time decision-making step where models run in production — thereby optimizing costs, latency, and scalability. Enterprises are also consolidating AI stacks for better governance and compliance.

6. AI in Healthcare, Research, and Sustainability

AI is spreading beyond diagnostics into treatment planning, global health access, environmental modeling, and scientific discovery. These applications could help address personnel shortages and speed up research breakthroughs.

7. Security, Ethics & Governance Become Critical

With AI handling more sensitive tasks, organizations will prioritize:
* Ethical use frameworks
* Governance policies
* AI risk management
This trend reflects broader concerns about trust, compliance, and responsible deployment.

8. Multimodal AI Goes Mainstream

AI systems that understand and generate across text, images, audio, and video will grow rapidly, enabling richer interactions and more powerful applications in search, creative work, and interfaces.

9. On-Device and Edge AI Growth

Processing AI tasks locally on phones, wearables, or edge devices will increase, helping with privacy, lower latency, and offline capabilities — especially crucial for real-time scenarios (e.g., IoT, healthcare, automotive).

10. New Roles: AI Manager & Human-Agent Collaboration

Instead of replacing humans, AI will shift job roles:
* People will manage, supervise, and orchestrate AI agents
* Human expertise will focus on strategy, oversight, and creative judgment
This human-in-the-loop model becomes the norm.

Sources:
[1]: https://www.brilworks.com/blog/ai-trends-2026/?utm_source=chatgpt.com “7 AI Trends to Look for in 2026″
[2]: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2025/10/13/10-generative-ai-trends-in-2026-that-will-transform-work-and-life/?utm_source=chatgpt.com “10 Generative AI Trends In 2026 That Will Transform Work And Life”
[3]: https://millipixels.com/blog/ai-trends-2026?utm_source=chatgpt.com “AI Trends 2026: The Key Enterprise Shifts You Must Know | Millipixels”
[4]: https://www.digitalregenesys.com/blog/top-10-ai-trends-for-2026?utm_source=chatgpt.com “Digital Regenesys | Top 10 AI Trends for 2026″
[5]: https://www.n-ix.com/ai-trends/?utm_source=chatgpt.com “7 AI trends to watch in 2026 – N-iX”
[6]: https://news.microsoft.com/source/asia/2025/12/11/microsoft-unveils-7-ai-trends-for-2026/?utm_source=chatgpt.com “Microsoft unveils 7 AI trends for 2026 – Source Asia”
[7]: https://www.risingtrends.co/blog/generative-ai-trends-2026?utm_source=chatgpt.com “7 Generative AI Trends to Watch In 2026″
[8]: https://www.fool.com/investing/2025/12/24/artificial-intelligence-ai-trends-to-watch-in-2026/?utm_source=chatgpt.com “3 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Trends to Watch in 2026 and How to Invest in Them | The Motley Fool”
[9]: https://www.reddit.com//r/AI_Agents/comments/1q3ka8o/i_read_google_clouds_ai_agent_trends_2026_report/?utm_source=chatgpt.com “I read Google Cloud’s “AI Agent Trends 2026” report, here are 10 takeaways that actually matter”

47 Comments

  1. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Artificial intelligence does not change anything about the fundamental nature of sustained competitive advantage when its use is pervasive. Once AI’s use is ubiquitous, it will transform economies and lift markets as a whole, but it will not uniquely benefit any single company. Businesses seeking to gain an innovation edge over rivals will need to focus their efforts on cultivating creativity among their employees.

    Read the full article >> https://mitsmr.com/4iPtA6D

    Reply
  2. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says AI doomerism has ‘done a lot of damage’ and is ‘not helpful to society’
    https://www.businessinsider.com/nvidia-jensen-huang-ai-doomerism-damage-investments-2026-1

    Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said there’s a real cost to AI doomerism.
    Without naming names, Huang blamed “very well-respected people” for end-of-the-world narratives.
    Huang said the rhetoric is “scaring people” from making investments in the improvement of AI.

    The Nvidia CEO said one of his biggest takeaways from 2025 was “the battle of narratives” over the future of AI development between those who see doom on the horizon and the optimists. Huang said while “it’s too simplistic” to dismiss either side entirely, some of the dismal outlooks are having real consequences.

    “I think we’ve done a lot of damage with very well-respected people who have painted a doomer narrative, end of the world narrative, science fiction narrative,” Huang said during a recent episode of the “No Priors” podcast. “And I appreciate that many of us grew up and enjoyed science fiction, but it’s not helpful. It’s not helpful to people. It’s not helpful to the industry. It’s not helpful to society. It’s not helpful to the governments.”

    Reply
  3. Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Mx3VgABL6/

    Dell’s head of product Kevin Terwilliger said during a pre-CES briefing, “One thing you’ll notice is the message we delivered around our products was not AI-first. So, a bit of a shift from a year ago where we were all about the AI PC.”

    “What we’ve learned over the course of this year, especially from a consumer perspective, is they’re not buying based on AI,” he admitted. “In fact I think AI probably confuses them more than it helps them understand a specific outcome.”

    The company confirmed its latest PCs still include AI hardware such as neural processing units, but said AI is no longer the main selling point.

    Dell also announced it would revive its XPS laptop line after admitting discontinuing it was a mistake.

    Reply
  4. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Big Picture: What This Means
    Trend Category 2026 Focus
    AI Autonomy Agents performing real tasks independently
    Generative Capabilities Content creation in all media
    Specialization Domain-specific performance
    Embedded AI Everywhere from OS to devices
    Production Usage AI delivering real business value
    Governance & Ethics Responsible, compliant AI
    Human-AI Workflows Collaboration not replacement

    Reply
  5. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Anthropic launches Cowork, a Claude Desktop agent that works in your files — no coding required
    https://venturebeat.com/technology/anthropic-launches-cowork-a-claude-desktop-agent-that-works-in-your-files-no

    Anthropic released Cowork on Monday, a new AI agent capability that extends the power of its wildly successful Claude Code tool to non-technical users — and according to company insiders, the team built the entire feature in approximately a week and a half, largely using Claude Code itself.

    https://claude.com/blog/cowork-research-preview

    Reply
  6. Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/technology/microsoft-wants-to-overhaul-github-and-on-ceo-satya-nadellas-target-are/articleshow/126475437.cms

    Microsoft is scrambling to keep GitHub relevant as a new bre ..

    Read more at:
    http://m.timesofindia.com/articleshow/126475437.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

    Reply
  7. Tomi Engdahl says:

    OpenAI putting bandaids on bandaids as prompt injection problems keep festering
    Happy Groundhog Day!
    https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/08/openai_chatgpt_prompt_injection/

    Security researchers at Radware say they’ve identified several vulnerabilities in OpenAI’s ChatGPT service that allow the exfiltration of personal information.

    The flaws, identified in a bug report filed on September 26, 2025, were reportedly fixed on December 16.

    Or rather fixed again, as OpenAI patched a related vulnerability on September 3 called ShadowLeak, which it disclosed on September 18.

    Reply
  8. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Sony Patents AI That Plays Video Games for You If You Get Stuck
    Finally, our leisure time has been automated.
    https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/sony-patents-ai-plays-video-games

    Reply
  9. Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://www.infoworld.com/article/4110010/generative-ui-the-ai-agent-is-the-front-end.html

    Reply
  10. Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://wccftech.com/dell-pulls-back-ai-first-push-after-admitting-customers-arent-interested/

    Reply
  11. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Tutkijat: Tekoäly ei pärjännyt itsenäisissä työtehtävissä – onnistumisaste vain 2,5 prosenttia
    https://muropaketti.com/tietotekniikka/tietotekniikkauutiset/tutkijat-tekoaly-ei-parjannyt-itsenaisissa-tyotehtavissa-onnistumisaste-vain-25-prosenttia/

    Reply
  12. Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://www.anthropic.com/engineering/demystifying-evals-for-ai-agents

    Reply
  13. Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://www.nucamp.co/blog/top-10-vibe-coding-tools-in-2026-cursor-copilot-claude-code-more

    Reply
  14. Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://www.infoq.com/articles/agentic-terminal-cli-agents/

    Reply
  15. Tomi Engdahl says:

    How Ralph Wiggum went from ‘The Simpsons’ to the biggest name in AI right now
    https://venturebeat.com/technology/how-ralph-wiggum-went-from-the-simpsons-to-the-biggest-name-in-ai-right-now

    Reply
  16. Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://www.proactiveinvestors.com/companies/news/1084783/openai-lifts-margins-on-paid-products-1084783.html

    Reply
  17. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Dell Admits That Customers Are Disgusted by PCs Stuffed With AI Features
    “They’re not buying based on AI.”
    https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/dell-admits-customers-disgusted-pcs-ai

    Reply
  18. Tomi Engdahl says:

    When AI writes almost all code, what happens to software engineering?
    No longer a hypothetical question, this is a mega-trend set to hit the tech industry
    https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/p/when-ai-writes-almost-all-code-what

    Reply
  19. Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://venturebeat.com/technology/anthropic-cracks-down-on-unauthorized-claude-usage-by-third-party-harnesses

    Reply
  20. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Powerful Local AI Automations with n8n, MCP and Ollama
    https://www.kdnuggets.com/powerful-local-ai-automations-with-n8n-mcp-and-ollama

    Reply
  21. Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/doctors-link-ai-psychosis

    Reply
  22. Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://www.cio.com/article/4113617/salesforces-agentforce-recalibration-raises-costs-and-complexity-for-cios.html

    Reply
  23. Tomi Engdahl says:

    AI could truly transform software development in 2026 – but developer teams still face big challenges with adoption, security, and productivity
    AI adoption is expected to continue transforming software development processes, but there are big challenges ahead
    https://www.itpro.com/software/development/ai-software-development-2026-vibe-coding-security

    Reply
  24. Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://www.infoworld.com/article/4113499/what-the-loom-tells-us-about-ai-and-coding.html

    Reply
  25. Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://www.infoq.com/news/2026/01/multi-agent-design-patterns/

    Reply
  26. Tomi Engdahl says:

    AI layoffs are looking more and more like corporate fiction that’s masking a darker reality, Oxford Economics suggests
    https://fortune.com/2026/01/07/ai-layoffs-convenient-corporate-fiction-true-false-oxford-economics-productivity/

    Reply
  27. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Replit boss: CEOs can vibe code their own prototypes and don’t have to beg engineers for help anymore
    https://www.businessinsider.com/replit-ceo-vibe-coding-ideas-prototypes-without-engineers-ai-tools-2026-1

    Reply
  28. Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://venturebeat.com/technology/nous-researchs-nouscoder-14b-is-an-open-source-coding-model-landing-right-in

    Reply
  29. Tomi Engdahl says:

    “Microslop”: Infuriating Video Sums Up How Microsoft Is Ruining Windows With AI
    “This is not a real company.”
    https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/video-microsoft-ruining-windows-ai

    Reply
  30. Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://www.techpowerup.com/344853/razer-project-ava-becomes-fully-integrated-ai-desk-companion-at-ces-2026#amp_tf=L%C3%A4hde%3A%20%251%24s&aoh=17679075905651&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.techpowerup.com%2F344853%2Frazer-project-ava-becomes-fully-integrated-ai-desk-companion-at-ces-2026

    Reply
  31. Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://www.darkreading.com/endpoint-security/chatgpt-memory-feature-prompt-injection

    Reply
  32. Tomi Engdahl says:

    AI Godfather Warns That It’s Starting to Show Signs of Self-Preservation
    “Frontier AI models already show signs of self-preservation in experimental settings today.”
    https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-godfather-self-preservation

    Reply
  33. Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://kallio.ai/

    Reply
  34. Tomi Engdahl says:

    In a truly galaxy-brained rebrand, Microsoft Office is now the ‘Microsoft 365 Copilot app,’ but Copilot is also still the name of the AI assistant
    News
    By Wes Fenlon published 5 January 2026
    Copilot is the app for launching the other apps, but it’s also a chatbot inside the apps. Any questions?
    https://www.pcgamer.com/software/windows/in-a-truly-galaxy-brained-rebrand-microsoft-office-is-now-the-microsoft-365-copilot-app-but-copilot-is-also-still-the-name-of-the-ai-assistant/

    Reply
  35. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Experienced software developers assumed AI would save them a chunk of time. But in one experiment, their tasks took 20% longer
    https://fortune.com/article/does-ai-increase-workplace-productivity-experiment-software-developers-task-took-longer/

    Reply
  36. Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://venturebeat.com/technology/the-creator-of-claude-code-just-revealed-his-workflow-and-developers-are

    Reply
  37. Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://blog.logrocket.com/protect-ai-agent-from-prompt-injection/

    https://openai.com/index/prompt-injections/0

    Reply
  38. Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://venturebeat.com/technology/intelition-changes-everything-ai-is-no-longer-a-tool-you-invoke

    Reply
  39. Tomi Engdahl says:

    A new worst coder has entered the chat: vibe coding without code knowledge
    In the age of AI, being able to make applications and create code has never been easier. But is it any good? Here’s what vibe coding is like for someone without technical skills.
    https://stackoverflow.blog/2026/01/02/a-new-worst-coder-has-entered-the-chat-vibe-coding-without-code-knowledge/

    Reply
  40. Tomi Engdahl says:

    IBM:n teknologiajohtaja irtisanoutui ja siirtyi yrittäjäksi – ”Voimme joutua pettymään tekoälyteknologiaan”

    https://www.tivi.fi/uutiset/a/ed5cdc90-fdfa-45ea-aa96-1d68b82cb266

    Reply
  41. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Google engineer says Claude Code built in one hour what her team spent a year on
    https://the-decoder.com/google-engineer-says-claude-code-built-in-one-hour-what-her-team-spent-a-year-on/

    Reply
  42. Tomi Engdahl says:

    AI Code Is a Bug-Filled Mess
    “These findings reinforce what many engineering teams have sensed throughout 2025.”
    https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-code-bug-filled-mess

    Reply
  43. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella really wants you to stop calling AI “slop” in 2026 — “We are beginning to distinguish between spectacle and substance.”
    https://www.reddit.com/r/microsoft/comments/1q2a0e2/microsoft_ceo_satya_nadella_really_wants_you_to/

    Reply
  44. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella really wants you to stop calling AI “slop” in 2026 — “We are beginning to distinguish between spectacle and substance.”
    Features
    By Jez Corden published January 2, 2026
    In closing comments of 2025, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella shared an update on the company’s mindset for 2026 — shocker, it’s all about AI.
    https://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft/microsoft-ceo-satya-nadella-really-wants-you-to-stop-calling-ai-slop-in-2026

    Reply
  45. Tomi Engdahl says:

    After Outcry, Firefox Promises “Kill Switch” That Turns Off All AI Features
    “I’ve never seen a company so astoundingly out of touch with the people who want to use its software.”
    https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/outcry-firefox-promises-kill-switch-ai-features

    Reply
  46. Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://jpcaparas.medium.com/how-the-creator-of-claude-code-actually-uses-it-13-practical-moves-2bf02eec032a

    Reply
  47. Tomi Engdahl says:

    AI Agents / AI Infrastructure / Data
    Is Agentic Metadata the Next Infrastructure Layer?
    If you’re building AI agents, you’re probably sitting on a lot of untapped data. Experts share how to put it to use.
    https://thenewstack.io/is-agentic-metadata-the-next-infrastructure-layer/

    Reply

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