From everyday AI to enduring impact — the AI trends defining 2026

If the past few years were about understanding what AI could do, 2026 is about seeing what happens when it becomes inseparable from how we live and work.

In 2023, organizations were learning. In 2024, they were experimenting. By 2025, pacesetters began to realize value at scale. Now the focus is on embedding AI into the operating fabric of business — reshaping industries, reimagining customer experiences, and redefining how people work.

Across EMEA, leaders are no longer asking whether to use AI, but how to thrive in a world where it underpins every process and decision.

Here are the four trends that I believe will define 2026.

Multimodal will become the new natural

We’ve entered a new era of work without boundaries - where the tools adapt to the way people think, speak, and create. For years, work was shaped by the limits of its interfaces — screens, keyboards, and endless tabs ...