AI and the Future of Work: 5 Predictions for 2026
AI predictions are all over the map. Some say boom, some say bust. Some think AI will end the world and make all of us redundant. Others believe AI will transform life, cure cancer, eliminate stress, end poverty, and bring happiness to all mankind.
Rather than focusing on a potentially bright or dire future, here are a few things the experts predict for 2026.
1. The AI hype will face and practically will surface
In 2026, the initial AI hype will likely fade, giving way to a more practical focus on AI governance, literacy, and the use of agents for routine data tasks. The excitement around what’s possible with AI will be replaced by the reality of exploiting more everyday applications for immediate gain.
“Every bubble inevitably bursts, and in 2026, AI will lose its sheen, trading its tiara for a hard hat,” said Sudha Maheshwari, an analyst at Forrester Research. “CFOs will get pulled into more AI deals. Companies will distribute their bets across agentic ecosystems and shift talent around as AI agents take over grunt work. Savvy enterprises will invest in AI governance and AI fluency training to mitigate risk and slowly chart their AI voyage.”
To bring more focus and discipline to AI implementations, Forrester believes that 60% of Fortune 100 companies will appoint a head of AI governance to navigate the patchwork of legislation worldwide. Companies like Sony, Bank of America, and UBS have already done so.
2. Enterprises will delay 25% of AI spend into 2027
AI spending went through the roof in 2024 and 2025.
The brakes won’t come on completely in 2026. But the ongoing exuberance will be tempered by requirements to demonstrate tangible ROI and to focus on pilot projects that can deliver a quick payback. CFOs will be far more miserly at funding AI.
According to Forrester, fewer than one-third of current projects can tie the value of AI to changes in profit and loss. Given this, CEOs will pull more CFOs into AI deals in 2026. Finance-gated decisions will slow production deployments and decimate proofs of concept, leading enterprises to delay 25% of their planned spend into 2027.
“2026 will not be for the faint of heart — or the faint of budget. Technology leaders are about to face a year that’s part rollercoaster, part chess match, and part improv comedy,” said Forrester analyst Mark Moccia. “CIOs will get more budget, but also more headaches, more volatility, and more pressure to prove every dollar spent is worth its weight in gold-plated AI chips.”
3. AI bleeds into OT as well as IT
2025 saw IT systems becoming AI-enabled. 2026 will see more of the same, as well as a concerted effort to add AI functionality to operational technology (OT — the systems that keep power grids, water treatment, and industrial processes running). Expect OT vendors to unleash a wave of AI features or updates to existing OT systems — and for cybersecurity concerns to become prominent in their wake, as this sector lags in common IT safeguards.
“Most AI-guidance addresses IT, not OT and regulators are now acknowledging OT-specific risks and providing actionable principles for integrating AI safely in these environments,” Floris Dankaart, lead product manager, managed extended detection and response at cybersecurity consulting firm, NCC Group, told TechRepublic. “A major challenge will be addressing skill gaps in OT teams, especially where it relates to AI.”
4. AI-based cyberattacks will multiply
A threat intelligence report from Google indicates that generative AI-based cybersecurity has become more sophisticated. For example, malware families such as PROMPTFLUX and PROMPTSTEAL use Large Language Models (LLMs) during execution to dynamically generate malicious scripts, evade detection, and create malicious functions on demand.
“Code that regenerates itself every hour, LLM-driven obfuscation, attackers manipulating chatbots to shape exploit chains on the fly – security teams may not be ready for this,” said Recep Ozdag, VP & GM of Keysight Technologies. “AI-boosted malware breaks most enterprise detection models. Rules-based security falls apart when code refuses to stay the same for more than a few minutes.”
5. AI demand prompts rapid power and cooling evolution
Cooling and power technology has been advancing rapidly for years. But demand for AI-based data centers has moved their evolution into hyperdrive.
Breakthroughs and new products in liquid cooling, for example, are happening every week. Take the case of cooling vendor Flex, which is deploying its JetCool rack-level, vertically integrated liquid cooling solution at a large Equinix Co-Innovation Facility (CIF) in Auburn, Virginia.
By incorporating standalone and facility-integrated single-phase direct liquid-cooling (DLC) capabilities into a single Open Compute Project ORv3 rack, this deployment will deliver significant energy savings while keeping Dell PowerEdge R760 and R660 servers cooler. If this project achieves the predicted benefits, expect Equinix to step up liquid cooling deployments across its worldwide data center portfolio.
Also see our CES 2026 live updates for the latest announcements from the show floor.
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