AI didn’t just make industry headlines in 2025; it got embedded into everyday knowledge-heavy work, from research and content creation to recruiting and analytics. McKinsey & Company’s November 2025 report on the state of AI noted that 88% of respondents now regularly use AI to handle at least one business function, representing a significant year-over-year jump. AI is changing how value is created, how decisions get made, and what “good work” looks like when speed and automation are always on the table.
The AI revolution isn’t limited to business and industry; broader cultural shifts hint that artificial intelligence is moving from a novelty to a norm among consumers as well. With 61% of multinational survey respondents saying they’ve used a generative AI engine, it’s clear that AI is forging ahead as a personal tool for research, education, shopping and even entertainment.
Looking ahead into 2026, AI’s growing reach across industries and culture has big implications not just for technology teams, but for anyone whose work depends on interpretation, decision-making or trust. Drawing on their real-world expertise, members of the Senior Executive AI Think Tank share their perspectives on how AI is likely to shape business and culture in 2026, why those changes matter and which roles, tasks and industries may be hit by the next wave of disruption first.
“Buyers won’t start with Google, SEO or ads. They’ll start with an AI agent: ‘Here are my specs, constraints and risks—who should I trust, and why?’”
Delegating Judgment Replaces Searching
Fabio Danze Montini, Investor and Owner of FDM Industrial Sales & Marketing SL, says that the next wave of AI disruption will impact demand generation, marketing ops, procurement due diligence and sales workflows, noting there will be fewer leads and more late-stage, high-quality opportunities. Most significantly, though, he sees 2026 as a turning point in how people make decisions—especially buying decisions—and how organizations earn trust.
“In 2026 we’ll see a cultural shift from ‘searching’ to ‘delegating judgment,’” Montini says. “Buyers won’t start with Google, SEO or ads. They’ll start with an AI agent: ‘Here are my specs, constraints and risks—who should I trust, and why?’”
That shift, he continues, will rewire competition.
“Discovery moves from rankings to AI shortlists built on proof,” Montini explains, emphasizing that “proof” will be assessed in terms of structured data, documented use cases, peer references, delivery reliability, compliance and true cost of ownership.
And, he says, the stakes for those who don’t master the new normal are high: “If you’re not on the AI shortlist, you’re not ‘page two’—you’re invisible when the buying window opens.”
Trust Becomes the Rarest Cultural Currency
“In 2026, AI will not merely change what we create; it will change what we believe,” says Aditya Vikram Kashyap, Vice President of Firmwide Innovation at Morgan Stanley.
He explains that as synthetic media becomes indistinguishable from human expression, audiences will become increasingly wary.
“Trust becomes the rarest currency in culture, and authorship shifts from a matter of talent to a matter of proof.”
The next wave of disruption, Kashyap says, will wash over knowledge workers whose authority rests on interpretation rather than production.
“Analysts, consultants, regulators and even academics will confront machines that generate endless streams of convincing expertise,” he asserts.
Even so, Kashyap says, the deepest cultural fracture will not be humans versus machines. Instead, he says, “It will be between earned judgment and automated credibility.”
Cognitive Capital Emerges as a Business Asset
Ajay Pundhir, Global AI Strategist and Head of AI at G42 and Founder of AiExponent, predicts a recalibration of what organizations value most.
“In 2026, AI will fundamentally reshape how organizations value human judgment and govern it responsibly,” he says. “We’ll see ‘cognitive capital’ emerge as a measurable asset, where uniquely human capabilities like ethical reasoning, creative synthesis and stakeholder empathy become premium competencies no algorithm can replicate.”
Pundhir explains that this shift will disrupt middle management and professional services roles not through replacement, but through redefinition.
“Roles built on routine analysis will compress; those requiring nuanced decision-making under uncertainty will expand,” he predicts.
In this revolutionized workplace, which companies will be the winners? Pundhir says it will be those that lean into both AI and human strengths—and that act quickly.
“I believe organizations that embed responsible AI frameworks early will sustain this transformation successfully,” he says. “The winners won’t just deploy AI; they’ll orchestrate it as a thinking partner, preserving human accountability at the core.”
“Survivors will not be those who have the best models, but those who verify, override and ethically frame AI outputs where synthetic content floods channels.”
Authenticity Becomes Scarce at Scale
Bhubalan Mani, Lead for Supply Chain Technology and Analytics at GARMIN, frames 2026 as the year AI triggers widespread trust erosion.
“AI won’t just disrupt work. It will fracture trust so deeply that authenticity becomes the scarcest cultural asset,” Mani says.
He references research showing that 69% of people worry journalists mislead them, adding that synthetic media is only accelerating the crisis.
“The impact manifests as an ‘algorithmic literacy divide,’ where those who understand AI limits thrive while others face decision paralysis,” Mani says.
He predicts the fallout will hit professional services next—and in a big way.
“Consulting faces $200 billion in displacement as DIY AI tools deliver 60% to 95% cost savings, rendering billable hours obsolete,” Mani says. “Mid-tier coordination roles will disappear as clients build internal AI capabilities.”
Up against this level of disruption, how can organizations prepare and pivot? Mani offers a path forward.
“Survivors will not be those who have the best models, but those who verify, override and ethically frame AI outputs where synthetic content floods channels.”
Personalization Redefines Creative Work
Chandrakanth Lekkala, Principal Data Engineer at Narwal.ai, pinpoints marketing and advertising as the areas that will face immediate disruption as AI automatically generates tailored campaigns.
“The provision of personalized content on a large scale will underpin the revolution of creative industries by AI in 2026,” he says.
Additionally knowledge and service work will evolve, with AI providing a significant speed and production boost rather than replacing roles wholesale.
“Legal research, financial analysis and consulting will transition toward human-AI collaboration models,” Lekkala says. “Customer service transforms radically with sophisticated AI agents managing complex interactions. Healthcare diagnostics accelerate through AI-assisted pattern recognition.”
These transformations will be made possible, he explains, because AI has reached a new level of maturity. This is good news for humans, whose unique capabilities are still beyond technology’s reach.
“All of this occurs because AI has crossed capability thresholds, making automation economically viable,” Lekkala says. “Simultaneously, it’s increasing demand for distinctly human skills like strategic thinking, emotional intelligence and ethical judgment in collaborative workflows.”
Originality Gains New Value
“In 2026, I predict AI will significantly influence cultural norms around creativity and originality.”
So says Roman Vinogradov, VP of Product at Improvado, who adds that as tools become more sophisticated at generating content, we may see a shift where the value of a human touch is emphasized even more.
“This could lead to a culture that prizes authenticity and personal storytelling over mass-produced content,” he says.
Because of this, Vinogradov expects industries including marketing, art and even journalism to face disruption next.
“Professionals in these areas will need to adapt by leveraging their unique perspectives rather than competing with AI-generated outputs,” he says.
Emphasizing emotional intelligence and critical thinking skills as being essential for standing out in an evolving professional landscape, Vinogradov concludes with a simple but powerful piece of advice.
“Focus on developing your unique voice; it will be your greatest asset moving forward.”
Human-AI Co-Creation Becomes the Default
Dileep Rai, Manager of Oracle Cloud Technology at Hachette Book Group (HBG), predicts a profound shift.
“In 2026, AI will quietly reshape culture by normalizing co-creation between humans and machines—not just in art or content, but in everyday decision-making.”
He explains that expectations and value judgments will change accordingly.
“People will begin to expect AI to act as a thinking partner, drafting, critiquing, simulating outcomes and surfacing trade-offs in real time,” Rai says. “This will shift culture from valuing raw output to valuing judgment, taste and ethical framing.”
Because AI can synthesize context faster than humans, Rai says the next major disruption will hit the knowledge-heavy “middle layers” of work: business analysis, compliance reviews, customer success, supply-chain planning and even parts of management.
“Roles won’t disappear overnight, but expectations will change,” he observes. “Professionals who can guide, question and refine AI will outpace those who simply execute tasks.”
“The blurring of lines will create a massive market for digital-only retail goods, redefining what it means to ‘own’ a product.”
‘Phygital Identity’ Reshapes Commerce
Uttam Kumar, Engineering Manager at American Eagle Outfitters, envisions a future AI-forward culture blending our physical and digital selves.
“In 2026, AI will fundamentally influence culture through ‘phygital identity,’ where our digital avatars and virtual presences carry more social weight than our physical appearances,” he asserts. “The blurring of lines will create a massive market for digital-only retail goods, redefining what it means to ‘own’ a product.”
Kumar adds this transformation won’t be limited to the retail sector but will also impact the commercial real estate and interior design industries.
“Physical storefronts and homes will be increasingly treated as blank canvases for personalized, AI-driven augmented reality overlays,” he says. “Architects and designers must now master spatial computing or face professional obsolescence.”
Reflecting on the famous saying, “Creativity is intelligence having fun,” Kumar is looking forward to the new world ahead.
“AI is giving us a limitless playground to reshape our entire physical and digital world.”
Craftsmanship Becomes a Status Symbol
Sathish Anumula, Senior Customer Success Manager and Architect for IBM Corporation, predicts the “human premium” will take over industrial culture in 2026, as buyers seek digital proof of a human touch in a sea of fake goods.
“As fully automated ‘dark factories’ make perfection less valuable, verified craftsmanship will become the new status symbol,” he says. “Value will change from accuracy to origin.”
Anumula says this new recognition of the value of human creativity will impact professional roles as well, with AI increasingly handling administration while humans concentrate on deeper-level work. Focusing on agentic AI, Anumula sees “industrial coordinators,” like production planners and inventory managers, as a group that will be significantly affected.
“Instead of a person reacting to a supply delay, an AI agent will find the problem, talk to suppliers and change the production lines in seconds,” he says. “This divides the workforce into two groups: the artisans, who work with the product, and the strategists, who design the AI systems.”
Workflows Get Redesigned, Not Replaced
Daria Rudnik, Team Architect and Executive Leadership Coach at Daria Rudnik Coaching & Consulting, sees AI’s long-term impact differently than many of her peers.
“The biggest cultural shift in 2026 will be the realization that AI doesn’t replace roles—it requires redesigning existing workflows,” she says.
Rudnik says organizations that are scrambling to adopt AI for its own sake won’t be the ones that leap ahead of the competition.
“Organizations that simply add AI tools will struggle, while those that rethink decisions, handoffs and accountability will gain speed and trust,” she asserts.
Rudnik adds that the next disruption will hit middle layers of work: approval chains, coordination roles and decision bottlenecks. The critical key to success? She says it’s keeping humans in the loop.
“These redesigned workflows must embed thinking-first practices where human judgment, critical evaluation of AI outputs, and deliberate decision-making are explicit steps.”
Smart Operating Principles for the AI Era
- Prepare for a shift from discovery to delegation. As AI agents increasingly act as decision-makers, organizations must structure data, proof points and trust signals to earn a place on AI-generated shortlists.
- Build systems that prove credibility, not just competence. When synthetic expertise is everywhere, authority will depend on verifiable judgment rather than volume or polish.
- Treat human judgment as a measurable asset. Ethical reasoning, empathy and decision-making under uncertainty are becoming core sources of enterprise value, not soft skills.
- Invest in algorithmic literacy across the workforce. The gap between those who understand AI limits and those who do not will determine who thrives and who stalls.
- Use AI to scale personalization, not replace people. Automation unlocks efficiency, but competitive advantage will still hinge on strategic thinking and emotional intelligence.
- Differentiate through originality and voice. As AI-generated content floods channels, authenticity and personal perspective will stand out more, not less.
- Train teams to collaborate with AI, not defer to it. Professionals who can guide, challenge and refine AI outputs will outperform those who simply accept them.
- Plan for commerce that blends physical and digital identity. From retail to real estate, leaders should prepare for AI-driven experiences that redefine ownership and presence.
- Elevate craftsmanship and origin as value markers. In highly automated environments, proof of human involvement will become a premium signal.
- Redesign workflows before scaling tools. Sustainable gains will come from rethinking decisions and accountability, not layering AI onto broken processes.
From Capability to Consequence
In 2026, AI will no longer be defined by what it can do but by what it changes. As judgment, trust, creativity and accountability become the new pressure points, organizations and individuals alike are being forced to reconsider how value is created and who—or what—earns credibility.
The implications are both challenging and promising. Those who treat AI as a shortcut risk being overwhelmed by automation-driven sameness. Those who treat it as a thinking partner—and invest in human judgment, proof and ethical framing—stand to gain influence in a world where trust is scarce and differentiation matters more than ever.
