This year saw AI complete the change from show-off demos and novelty experiments to an ever-present aspect of technology and society, with both positive and negative opinions abounding.
But as 2025 answered the question of whether AI tools are flexible enough to adapt to the ways people might want to use them, 2026 will see if companies can convince people to open up their lives to the assistance and influence of AI. As OpenAI, Google, Meta, Apple, Amazon, and more keep pushing new ways to incorporate AI into everyday routines, we might see more announcements about people embracing or rejecting AI, even if there are fewer about true breakthroughs with the models.
