NEW YORK, June 10 — Artificial intelligence is no longer just a tool. It is becoming infrastructure, comparable to electricity, the internet, or cloud computing. That is the central message of the IEEE Computer Society’s Technology Predictions for 2026, a forecast that consolidates the group’s outlook into 26 key trends.
The shift is profound.
IEEE sees AI agents becoming standard team members across office work. Competitive advantage, the forecast argues, will move from headcount to how effectively organizations apply intelligence.
The question is no longer whether AI will arrive, but who will control energy, data and trust in an AI-driven world.
Always-on wearable AI devices are on the rise, and they bring privacy questions with them. AI-generated video, music and documents are maturing.
Social AI that can read emotion and adjust tone is emerging.
These are not distant possibilities. They are trends IEEE expects to define the year ahead. Embodied or physical AI — robots, drones and autonomous systems — is expected to scale across manufacturing, logistics and cities.
Robotaxis are moving toward dense, capital-intensive urban services. The hardware is catching up to the software.
IEEE identifies the two hardest limits on AI scaling as power generation and trust.
Trust includes data provenance and identity. Without solving those, the infrastructure cannot hold.
AI-driven scientific discovery is another key trend. In-memory computing that prioritizes performance-per-watt over raw speed is gaining ground. Quantum-safe cryptography is on the horizon.
AI-enabled digital twins are becoming practical tools.
And among all the applications, IEEE singles out medicine and engineered therapeutics as carrying the largest potential impact. The forecast is not a list of predictions in isolation.
It is a picture of a world where intelligence is embedded in everything — from the devices on our wrists to the robots in our factories to the systems that manage our cities.
The infrastructure is being built now.
