AI Predictions for 2026
Happy new year! The purpose of this post is to write out ideas, thoughts and predictions regarding AI trends for 2026. My main prediction is that Agentic AI will become a mainstream tool for everyday users and there will likely be some societal growing pains (e.g. security). By Agentic AI here I mean AI that can perform actions ("do things") as opposed to simply describe things. There is an important conceptual difference between passively observing/describing the world versus actively imparting change upon the world. Currently, generative AI is utilized by most people as a browser tool or phone-based app where LLMs are engaged to produce natural-language output (ChatGPT) or in some cases multimodal visual output like images or videos (Sora). Ultimately, utilizing this output to execute actions in the world is left to the human user. For example, if you are planning a trip to Mexico, you might engage your favorite LLM in the browser to ask for recommendations on where to sta...
