In 2026, AI will move from hype to pragmatism

After a year of AI hype and oversized promises, 2026 will mark a shift toward practical applications as the industry moves away from building ever-larger language models. Companies are adopting smaller, fine-tuned models for specific business needs while developing world models that understand physical environments rather than just predicting text. New connection standards like Anthropic's Model Context Protocol are enabling AI agents to integrate with real business systems, moving beyond pilot programs into workflows that augment human work.