AI trends is going to be big news again this year. Since a lot of money is being put into intelligence we can expect new Ai trends trends to come out this year that will keep making new things possible. Artificial intelligence will keep changing and getting better.
We are not just making our processes digital anymore. The year will show that automation is used to change the way things work in industries, businesses, society and many other parts of life. So many of the interesting technology trends of 2026 will be, about machine intelligence becoming a bigger part of the systems that run our cities the way we work in our offices and even the health of our bodies. Machine intelligence will be used to make these things better.
We think about what’s coming next so we want to talk about five trends that will probably become very important parts of our lives both on the computer and in the real world. These trends will shape our physical realities and the trends will have a big impact on how we live and interact with each other and, with the digital and physical realities.
The Era Of Agentic AI Trends
The Ai trends is getting better and better. One big change in the Ai trends is that it is not just helping out anymore it is actually doing things on its own.
In the past the Ai trends that makes things, like code or pictures it needed people to tell it what to do all the time. Now it seems like the year 2026 is going to be the year when the Ai trends really starts to do things by itself this is what people call Artificial Intelligence.
The way things are going is because of improvements, in large action models. These models, also known as LAMs let intelligence work with software and APIs in a very human-like way. This means that Ai trends can now do things as easily as people can think of them. Nowadays systems that can act on their own are special because they can think about what to do make plans and then do those plans in steps without needing much help from people.
For example travel agents will not suggest a travel plan but they will also talk to people about prices, book flights take care of visa applications and change schedules right away when flights are delayed. In the sector this year companies will start using what is called “agentic workforces” more often where organisations use special Ai trends agents that work together with other Ai trends agents. A marketing agent will find something that people’re really into right now. The marketing agent will then tell an agent to come up with a plan for an advertising campaign. After that the marketing agent will work with a media-buying agent to get the campaign started. The marketing agent is also talking to the manager about what is going on with the workflow and the marketing agent is giving the human manager some important information, about it.
Gartner says that the trend toward AI trends is a big step forward for what AI trends can do and the chances it brings to the market. Agentic AI will give us ways to use our resources better, automate tasks that are hard to do and come up with new ideas for businesses that go beyond what automated bots and virtual assistants can do. The people who do research, on technology at Gartner also said that big companies that make technology are already adding features that act like agents to their products. Gartner says that by 2028 agentic AI will make at 15 percent of the decisions we make every day at work. This is a change from 2024, when agentic AI was not making any of these decisions.
Physical AI Trends
For a time the best artificial intelligence was stuck on computers and phones. Now in 2026 Ai trends has a body. This physical artificial intelligence is what happens when you combine smart machine learning with cool robots and special sensors. So Ai trends can Move around and work with things in the real world in a really amazing way. Ai trends is getting better, at doing things that people do.
The thing that is happening now is that we can see a lot of humanoid robots being used everywhere. These robots are different from the robotic arms that just stayed in one place. The new humanoid robots have something called “world models” inside them which’s like a simulation that helps them understand how things work in the world like physics and gravity and how things are related to each other. We can see these humanoid robots in places where things are being moved around like logistics hubs, where they can pick up things that’re not all the same, which is something that people used to have to do. We can also see them in places where old people live, like elder-care facilities, where they help people get around and do things they need to do every day. Humanoid robots are really good, at helping with these kinds of tasks.
When we think about artificial intelligence we are looking at more than just humanoids. Physical artificial intelligence is also much present in smart infrastructure. For example physical Ai trends is used in bridges, power grids and water systems. These systems now have intelligence built into them. This artificial intelligence can detect when something is going wrong like when a bridge’s getting weak or when there is a problem with the water. It can even fix some of these problems on its own without a human being involved. This can happen before a human even knows that something is wrong, with artificial intelligence.
Embedded finance 2.0
As of 2026 embedded finance is not just about adding a payment button or a buy now pay later option on a checkout page. Now we are in the embedded finance 2.0 era. Embedded finance 2.0 is about having financial solutions that are made just for the user. These embedded finance solutions know what the user is doing and help them at the time. They are a part of what the user does on a website or app that is not a bank or financial company. Embedded finance solutions are really good, at helping the user because they are deeply integrated into what the user’s doing on the website or app.
The integration of actions means that financial actions are no longer separate things that we do on their own. For example in November Visa and Transcard said they were starting a new embedded finance platform. This platform is very advanced. It can help with payments and working capital solutions, for the freight and logistics industry. The financial actions and the freight and logistics industry are becoming more connected because of this integration of actions.
Visa said that this alliance makes it possible for freight forwarders and airline carriers to use embedded credit and working capital solutions on WebCargo by Freightos. WebCargo by Freightos is a digital platform that helps with booking and payments in the freight industry.
Visa has a lot of experience with solutions all over the world. Transcard has good payment orchestration technology. When you put these two things together users of WebCargo can get credit terms that’re flexible. They can also get set up easily. Have their payments reconciled automatically when they do air cargo transactions. This is what Visa said would happen when they made this alliance with Transcard and WebCargo by Freightos.
The main thing is that WebCargo users can now get embedded credit and working capital solutions. This is a deal, for freight forwarders and airline carriers who use WebCargo by Freightos.
If a construction company uses a logistics app to manage its trucks the app can now automatically figure out offer and pay for equipment insurance based on real time data from the trucks. These platforms can also use things like how people behave to offer money exactly when it is needed. For example a merchant platform might see that there is a delay in getting goods from one place to another and offer a solution to help with cash flow before the merchant even realizes they need it. The logistics app and merchant platform are using real time information to help the construction company and merchant, with equipment insurance and cash flow.
Real-world asset (RWA)
The breaking down of world assets into smaller parts is not just something people try out with crypto anymore. It is becoming a thing in big finance companies and regular banking. More different kinds of assets. Like US government bonds and special loan funds. Can now be shown on the internet in a special kind of ledger called the blockchain. This means that assets that used to take a time to move around can now be bought and sold and used as security, for loans at any time of day or night and it all happens really fast.
As DeFi matures people who invest in these protocols are looking for ways to make money from things like US Treasury bills or money market funds. This helps them spread their money around and make the most of the money that is just sitting there.
According to Arkham Intelligence a company that knows a lot, about blockchain people can now use these things to make money. If someone turns these investments into tokens then more people can buy them, not big institutions. This also means that people can get their money away and it is easy to see who owns what.
In 2026 these tokens are getting smarter all the time. For example a special kind of bond that uses tokens can automatically send the money it earns to a savings account. It can also quickly change its status to “collateral” when people are trading fast. This means we do not have to do all the paperwork by hand like we used to. Tokens, like these are really making things easier.
We will probably see a lot more things being turned into tokens.. That means they can be split into smaller parts. Big projects like farms or bridges can now be broken down into digital tokens. For example a pension fund can own a part of a project like 5 percent and a regular investor can own a really small part, like 0.001 percent. This makes it possible for a lot more people to put money into projects around the world and it helps make financial things more available to everyone. Tokenised assets, like these farms and bridges are going to make a big difference. Tokenised assets will help bring in money for these big projects.
Green computing
The last few years have been really tough for the tech industry because it is getting closer to a problem with carbon. The tech industry uses a lot of energy for things like intelligence and data centres. This is causing a lot of trouble. Some people are saying we need to change the way we do things. We need to make information technology that’s good for the environment from the start. In the few years people have come up with some new ideas that use less energy. The tech industry is trying to make information technology that’s better, for the environment and these new ideas are helping to make that happen. The tech industry and information technology are really important. We need to make sure they are not hurting the planet.
Neuromorphic computing is a way of making computers that work like our brains. It is making processor architectures that are like the brains neural networks. This kind of computing uses a lot power for complex artificial intelligence tasks than the old graphics processing units do.
Data centres are trying to be more careful about the environment. They are doing this by managing the computing and artificial intelligence workloads, in data centres and time zones. This means they can do the work in places where they have a lot of energy like solar or wind power when it is available the most. Computing and artificial intelligence are important here because they can help with this. So companies can really make a difference by following the sun. This means they can lower the carbon emissions, from the electricity they use. The idea of following the sun is important because it helps companies minimise their carbon emissions from electricity consumption. By doing this companies can make sure they are using electricity in a way that produces carbon emissions. Following the sun is a way for companies to reduce their carbon emissions from electricity.
The problem of waste is getting worse and worse. This year, 2026 is going to be a year for modular hardware that is easy to recycle. Big companies are now selling hardware as a service. This means they take back parts fix them up and use them again. This way electronic waste is reduced. Modular hardware and hardware as a service are going to be very important. Companies are doing this to help with the electronic waste problem. They want to make sure old hardware does not get thrown away. Instead they take back the parts refurbish them and put them back, into the system.
HaaS is inherently designed to be recyclable and sustainable, promoting a circular economy by shifting from one-time purchases to managed services, in which providers handle end-of-life recycling, refurbishment and material recovery, thereby significantly reducing e-waste and supporting environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals. In the long run, this should substantially decrease the need to mine new materials.
