2026: Work and the Physical World Rewired by AI
In my last article, I outlined two trends for 2026: the rise of everyday automation and the synthetic content crisis. Let's continue. The following two trends are already visible — and they'll reshape how we work and interact with machines.
The Future of Work
We saw it clearly in 2025: AI displaced thousands of workers across large enterprises. The full global impact? Still hard to measure. But in 2026, the long-term implications become unavoidable.
- New jobs emerge — AI Engineers, AI translators, AI integrators, Narrow AI specialists, ethics and compliance experts, you name it.
- Roles reshape — knowledge workers offload routine and admin tasks to agents.
- Redundancies persist — especially in mid- and small-cap businesses, where leaders view cost savings as the primary objective.
I see this first-hand with my partners: the winners aren't those who cut fastest, but those who retrain, reposition, and pair humans with AI intelligently. Leaders who invest in AI literacy programs and cross-skilling will set the pace. An effective AI readiness assessment for EU SMEs reveals that organizations pairing workforce development with AI automation consulting outperform those focused solely on cost reduction.
AI in the Physical World
2026 won't just be about digital assistants. AI is moving into physical systems:
- Autonomous vehicles scaling from pilot projects to mainstream fleets.
- Robotics in warehouses, healthcare, and construction, handling repetitive physical labor.
- IoT everywhere — homes, cities, factories, stitched together with smarter AI-driven coordination.
The big shift is that AI won't just live in apps — it will share our homes, industries, and public spaces. Guardrails around regulation and safety are maturing, which means adoption can accelerate. Expect debates around liability, human oversight, and ethics to grow louder.
I call this the "tangible AI era" — when you can literally see and touch the systems AI is running. That changes how people trust (or resist) the technology. Organizations preparing for this shift through operational AI implementation and AI governance & risk advisory will navigate the transition more effectively.
Your focus should be clear: upskill your workforce for hybrid AI roles, and prepare your organization for AI that isn't just digital, but physical.
Written by Dr. Hernani Costa and originally published at First AI Movers. Subscribe to the First AI Movers Newsletter for daily, no‑fluff AI business insights and practical automation playbooks for EU SME leaders. First AI Movers is part of Core Ventures.
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