Week 44, 2026
Subjects
What each field argues about, where people say it is heading and what those ahead of the curve are doing, from named people’s own words and published surveys.
Careers
Careers · Work and the job market
Careers
Forecasts point to leaner workforces and major changes in job skills, while some expect AI to create jobs and reshape work rather than eliminate it.
Will AI mainly reduce workforces or create and reshape jobs?
101 people quoted
Industries
Industry · Tech & software
Tech
The forecasts point toward AI becoming embedded in enterprise software and agent workflows, while competition and cost remain constraints.
Should AI agents and inference spread broadly, or wait on reliability and cost?
65 people quoted
Industry · Artificial intelligence
AI
Forecasts point toward agents taking on longer, more autonomous workflows, while several speakers expect humans to guide or supervise their work.
Should agents take on multi-step work, or should people retain control over consequential tasks?
158 people quoted
Industry · Advertising & marketing
Marketing
Marketing is moving toward AI becoming routine infrastructure, while differentiation is framed around human judgment, original ideas and customer understanding.
Should AI automate marketing, or should human judgment remain central?
67 people quoted
Industry · Jobs, HR & staffing
Human relations
Several forecasts describe work shifting toward people directing AI agents, while HR platforms become systems for managing organizational capacity and work.
Will AI make organizations leaner, or strengthen capacity and performance?
61 people quoted
Industry
Food & beverage
Food is framed both as nourishment tied to wellness and as a source of distinct indulgence, while fortification alone is presented as insufficient to make food healthy.
Should food be judged by its contribution to wellness, or can indulgence stand apart?
6 people quoted
Industry
Retail & e-commerce
Agent-led shopping is moving toward real purchasing, but forecasts also point to retailer backlash and trust as barriers to wider use.
Should retailers enable AI agents to transact, or limit their role in shopping?
22 people quoted
Industry
Manufacturing
Robotics forecasts point toward broader deployment, while other voices stress that hardware, data and dexterity remain constraints.
What will make domestic manufacturing competitive?
19 people quoted
Industry
Media & entertainment
Entertainment is being pulled toward fandom-led distribution and new forms of creation, while broad-audience reach and established formats remain part of the strategy.
Should entertainment businesses pursue broad reach or serve concentrated fandoms?
50 people quoted
Industry
Gaming
Several forecasts point toward games made by smaller teams finding audiences through faster iteration, broader access and production scaled to demand.
Will growth and innovation come mainly from large companies or smaller studios?
20 people quoted
Industry
Sports & fitness
Major sports events are framed both as a growth area and as leverage for better pricing for cable networks.
Are major sports events a growth opportunity or leverage for network pricing?
3 people quoted
Industry
Telecom & internet
The internet may shift from people as its main participants toward agents that can transact, reversing efforts to keep bots from buying online.
Should internet services enable agents to transact, or keep bots from buying online?
5 people quoted
Industry
Finance & banking
AI finance is heading toward automated analysis and proactive agents, while deterministic controls and human review retain authority over money movement and system changes.
How much financial work should AI handle, and where should human control remain?
40 people quoted
Industry
Crypto & digital assets
What the field argues about, where people say it is heading, and what those ahead of the curve are doing.
How should crypto systems prepare for attacks and protocol failures?
22 people quoted
Industry
Insurance
Some proposals aim to bridge risks current insurance does not cover, while treating the new insurer as a bootstrap rather than the ultimate risk-bearer.
Who should take on risks that existing insurance leaves uncovered?
8 people quoted
Industry
Real estate & construction
Housing activity may regain momentum if energy pressures ease and interest rates fall, while elevated rates and weak construction remain constraints.
Will housing activity recover, or will high mortgage rates keep the market subdued?
14 people quoted
Industry
Energy & utilities
Data-centre power demand is pushing batteries and other capacity options forward, while grid access, gas deliverability and who pays remain contested.
What should data centres contribute to power capacity and local costs?
20 people quoted
Industry
Cars & mobility
Forecasts point to expanding autonomous services and vehicle volumes, while commercial scale remains uncertain and depends on deployment pace and operating conditions.
How quickly can autonomous vehicles move into commercial operation?
16 people quoted
Industry
Transport & logistics
Forecasts point to autonomous transport moving toward commercial service, but meaningful scale remains a longer-term question shaped by operating costs and infrastructure.
How soon will autonomous transport reach commercial operation at meaningful scale?
6 people quoted
Industry
Health & pharma
Healthcare AI is framed as a route from information to care, while access infrastructure and capacity determine whether people can act on it.
How should healthcare AI connect information to care?
34 people quoted
Industry
Education
Higher education is being framed less as the delivery of knowledge alone and more as verifying learning, building judgment, and adapting assessment to AI.
Should education prioritize knowledge or the ability to judge and verify it?
21 people quoted
Industry
Science & research
AI-assisted research is being framed as a faster loop of models, simulations and experiments, with physical evidence and model checks still needed.
Can AI and computation advance research without experimental checks?
24 people quoted
Industry
Government & public sector
The claims point toward policy being shaped through implementation choices, from state-level rules and permitting to agency enforcement and local political coalitions.
How should government balance rapid deployment with limits and oversight?
38 people quoted
Industry
Security & defence
Several forecasts point to AI speeding up both attacks and defence, while some schemes face pressure from AI and, later, quantum computing.
How should defenders respond as AI accelerates vulnerability discovery and exploitation?
20 people quoted
Industry
Legal & professional services
What the field argues about, where people say it is heading, and what those ahead of the curve are doing.
How much legal work can AI replace, and what work must remain with lawyers?
13 people quoted
Areas
Sub-area · Tech
Software development
Software work is moving toward agents that can implement and operate systems, while engineers shift toward product choices, trade-offs and oversight.
How much software work should be delegated to AI agents?
70 people quoted
Sub-area · Tech & design
UI
Several forecasts point from fixed screens toward generated or headless interfaces that deliver tasks through context-aware systems, while some argue AI behavior should remain bounded.
Should interfaces adapt to each task, or stay stable and predictable?
32 people quoted
Influential people
150 people whose words shape these fields, with what they said and when.
Josh BersinKieran FlanaganJoe PatriceAndy JassyJakob NielsenDwarkesh PatelTibo SottiauxAmanda NatividadJoost van DreunenSimon WillisonEthan MollickLuke WroblewskiRiddSam AltmanAndrej KarpathyDario AmodeiRand FishkinRodney BrooksAsha SharmaDylan FieldEmily KramerJeff HumbleJim FarleyMark Ritson