Data and AI in 2026: What will shape enterprise priorities next

As organisations move deeper into the era of generative and agentic AI, enthusiasm remains high—but the focus is shifting. According to the “Building a high-performance data and AI organization” report from MIT Technology Review Insights, 65% of organisations have already deployed generative AI. The next phase, however, is less about experimentation and more about delivering measurable business outcomes.

Conversations with data and AI leaders across industries point to a common priority: building unified, well-governed data estates that can reliably support AI agents and applications. As enterprises look to scale specialised agents that can reason within their own environments, evaluation, governance and architectural simplicity are becoming as important as model performance.

Looking ahead, several strategic themes are expected to define how enterprises approach data and AI in 2026.

Model choice becomes a strategic requirement

The rapid pace of innovation among large language model (LLM) providers has created ...