9 AI Trends for 2026 That Will Reshape Business, Work, and Daily Life

AI in 2026 moves from assistant to operator. AI agents will run transactions, departments, logistics, and personal workflows while AI literacy becomes mandatory for career growth.

Those who adopt early gain structural advantage.

Key Takeaways

  • AI agents will handle the majority of business transactions without human intervention

  • Every powered device will become AI-enabled and interconnected

  • Personal AI assistants will automate 50 to 70 percent of daily knowledge work

  • Entire business departments will be run primarily by AI systems

  • AI literacy will become a career requirement, not a competitive bonus

Introduction

AI spending is projected to reach trillions of dollars by 2026. That level of capital does not produce minor upgrades. It produces structural transformation.

Most people still treat AI as a writing assistant or automation shortcut. The real shift is much bigger. AI is moving into decision-making, coordination, logistics, household management, and workforce structure.

The leaders who understand these shifts early will gain leverage. Those who delay will operate at a structural disadvantage.

Below are the nine AI trends for 2026 that will reshape business, work, and daily life.

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Table of Contents

AI Trend 1: AI Agents Will Buy From AI

Autonomous Transactions Replace Manual Approvals

Today, humans sit in the middle of most purchases. Research, comparison, approval, follow-up, and reconciliation require manual coordination.

That friction disappears as AI agents transact directly with other AI systems.

AI will:

  • Research vendors and pricing

  • Place orders automatically

  • Manage returns and exceptions

  • Coordinate delivery and scheduling

Cause and effect is direct.

  • AI reduces transaction friction

  • Reduced friction lowers operational cost

  • Lower cost increases transaction volume

  • Increased volume reinforces AI adoption

Human value shifts upward. Instead of executing transactions, leaders will configure, monitor, and improve AI systems.

The future isn't AI versus humans. It's AI powered humans versus the rest.

AI Trend 2: Everything With Power Becomes Intelligent

The Cognification of Devices

Devices today respond to commands. They do not reason or coordinate.

AI models are becoming small and deployable enough to operate directly inside hardware. That means every powered device becomes cognitive.

Expect:

  • Refrigerators that manage inventory and reorder supplies

  • Scales that inform dietary systems

  • Thermostats that optimize energy usage dynamically

  • Appliances that learn household behavior patterns

When devices communicate as a system, the home becomes an operating environment, not a collection of tools.

If homes are intelligent, businesses must match that intelligence. Customer expectations will evolve accordingly.

Personal AI Assistant

AI Trend 3: Everyone Gets a Personal AI Assistant

From Tool to Autonomous Operator

Knowledge workers spend the majority of their time on administrative execution.

AI assistants will automate:

  • Email drafting and sending

  • Calendar management and conflict resolution

  • Project updates across systems

  • Document and meeting summaries

The shift is structural. Humans become directors rather than operators.

Reinforcement learning frameworks already train AI through feedback. That same structure moves to the individual level. The AI executes. The human refines.

As execution is automated, humans focus on:

  • Strategic thinking

  • Creative development

  • Relationship building

  • High-value decisions

AI Trend 4: AI Customer Service Eliminates Waiting

24/7 Intelligent Support

Customer service today is constrained by staffing, time zones, and training gaps.

AI-powered support systems provide:

  • Instant responses

  • Full product knowledge

  • Lead qualification

  • Automated scheduling

The impact is measurable.

  • Faster responses increase conversion

  • Consistency improves retention

  • Automation reduces cost

Companies that remove waiting will capture market share from those that maintain friction.

AI Trend 5: AI Agents Running Entire Departments

Department-Level Automation

Process-driven departments are ideal for AI execution.

Finance, sales operations, HR, and support can be largely automated through AI systems that:

  • Generate reports and forecasts

  • Manage pipelines and follow-ups

  • Execute onboarding workflows

  • Maintain compliance documentation

Human leaders shift into oversight roles:

  • Designing systems

  • Monitoring outputs

  • Handling complex exceptions

  • Making strategic decisions

As execution automates, competitive advantage centers on judgment and sequencing.

AI Trend 6: Household AI Robots

Physical Automation at Home

Robotic systems are evolving from narrow tools to general assistants.

Next-generation AI robots will:

  • Load and unload appliances

  • Organize rooms

  • Perform routine cleaning

  • Assist with repetitive chores

Recovered time compounds.

Freed hours can be reinvested into:

  • Health and fitness

  • Family engagement

  • Skill development

  • Creative work

Automation of physical maintenance creates space for human growth.

AI Trend 7: Robots Driving Existing Vehicles

Autonomy Without Full Redesign

Self-driving software exists, but most vehicles remain human-operated.

Humanoid or modular AI systems capable of physically operating pedals and steering remove the hardware limitation. If a robot can drive like a human, any vehicle becomes autonomous.

The productivity shift is substantial. Travel time converts into:

  • Work time

  • Learning time

  • Rest and recovery

Mobility becomes leveraged rather than consumed.

AI Trend 8: AI-Powered Delivery and Logistics

Eliminating the Last-Mile Cost

The most expensive segment of logistics is final delivery.

AI-powered drones, sidewalk robots, and warehouse automation reduce or eliminate that cost.

As last-mile cost drops:

  • Product pricing decreases

  • Fulfillment accelerates

  • New business models emerge

Lower logistics cost expands economic opportunity across industries.

The future is not AI versus humans. It is AI-powered humans versus those who resist adoption.

AI Trend 9: AI Proficiency Becomes a Career Requirement

From Advantage to Expectation

AI literacy is transitioning from optional to essential.

Companies increasingly value:

  • AI tool fluency

  • Automation capability

  • Prompt design skill

  • System configuration knowledge

Professionals who automate their own workflows gain leverage. They produce more output in less time, freeing capacity for higher-value work.

The divide is clear.

  • AI-powered professionals expand opportunity

  • AI avoiders experience stagnation

The future is not AI versus humans. It is AI-powered humans versus those who resist adoption.

Conclusion

AI in 2026 represents structural change, not incremental improvement.

Transactions will automate. Departments will run on AI systems. Homes will function as intelligent environments. Logistics will accelerate. Career advancement will depend on AI fluency.

The window for optional adoption is narrowing. Leaders who invest in AI capability now position themselves for leverage, scalability, and long-term advantage.

Frequently Asked Questions

The most significant trends include autonomous AI agents, personal AI assistants, AI-run departments, intelligent devices, robotic automation, and AI-powered logistics systems.

AI will automate repetitive and process-driven tasks. Humans will remain responsible for strategy, oversight, complex judgment, and relational work.

Homes will operate through interconnected intelligent devices and robotic assistants that automate chores, purchasing, and coordination.

Yes. AI proficiency is rapidly becoming a baseline expectation in many industries. Early adopters gain measurable competitive advantage.

Entrepreneurs should integrate AI into core operations, automate repetitive processes, train teams in AI systems, and develop internal automation capability.

Related Articles

More Resources

Top 9 AI Trends I’m Betting My Bank Account On in 2026
https://www.youtube.com/watch/ZP9ki_8-ZvE

00:00:00.080 Here’s a crazy stat. By the end of 2026,
00:00:03.439 AI spending will reach $2 trillion. And
00:00:07.040 that kind of explosion is going to
00:00:08.559 create nine major trends that most
00:00:10.400 people have no idea is coming. I’m not
00:00:12.240 talking about Chad GBT getting slightly
00:00:14.160 better. I’m talking about a complete
00:00:16.400 transformation of daily life as we know
00:00:18.960 it. I’ve spent years investing in AI
00:00:21.520 companies, building AI products, and
00:00:23.119 tracking every major move in this space.
00:00:25.519 And what I’m seeing behind the scenes is
00:00:27.439 about to make 2026 the biggest year in
00:00:30.240 AI yet. It’s going to take over
00:00:32.238 businesses, shopping, even your freaking
00:00:34.800 toothbrush. And you have the opportunity
00:00:37.040 to be ahead of all of it. So, let’s
00:00:38.719 start with trend number one. AI will buy
00:00:40.800 from AI. Currently, AI does a lot of
00:00:43.680 cool stuff, but the humans have to be in
00:00:45.680 the loop. People still have folks on
00:00:47.680 their team to do things like buying
00:00:49.680 things for them. Every purchase today
00:00:51.760 for most people requires human approval.
00:00:54.000 emails. Most people are using AI to
00:00:55.760 write them and then when the reply comes
00:00:57.520 in, the person used AI to reply. 90% of
00:01:00.879 mine already are via my assistant.
00:01:03.199 Humans will be taken out of that process
00:01:05.199 in 2026. Here’s why I know that. Experts
00:01:07.920 say that by 2028, not far away, 90% of
00:01:11.360 all business purchases will be handled
00:01:13.119 by AI agents, moving $15 trillion in
00:01:17.280 spend. Essentially what that will look
00:01:19.119 like is AI bots will do the research for
00:01:21.680 you, buy for you, return things for you,
00:01:23.759 coordinate things for you, scheduling
00:01:25.439 things for you, and then on the other
00:01:26.880 side, the AI will receive that order,
00:01:28.720 coordinate any missing data with your AI
00:01:31.200 without you involved, and just take care
00:01:33.040 of the transaction. All of this gets
00:01:34.960 done with no human intervention. Here’s
00:01:37.840 a simple example. Your fridge sees
00:01:40.560 everything in the fridge. [music] It’ll
00:01:42.159 know you’re low on tomatoes. It’ll know
00:01:43.680 that you don’t have enough chicken and
00:01:45.119 it will automatically coordinate with
00:01:46.960 the other AI apps to purchase and get it
00:01:50.159 delivered. So all of a sudden, you’ll
00:01:52.079 never have to tell anybody what you want
00:01:54.479 to reorder. Do you see how cool this
00:01:56.560 gets? So here’s what this means for you.
00:01:58.719 Your job shifts from placing orders to
00:02:01.200 managing the AI that places orders, from
00:02:03.759 configuring them, for monitoring them,
00:02:05.759 giving it more data. See, the AI can’t
00:02:07.680 get better if you don’t learn how to
00:02:09.199 talk to it and coordinate it and train
00:02:10.959 it. The cool part is faster ordering
00:02:13.280 means fewer mistakes and it works 24/7.
00:02:16.560 Doesn’t take rest days, [music] doesn’t
00:02:18.000 take sick days, doesn’t talk back. It
00:02:20.319 just gets it done. So that’s AI becoming
00:02:23.120 the customer. Now, here’s something even
00:02:25.040 more personal. AI is about to be part of
00:02:27.360 every single device in your home. Trend
00:02:29.920 number two, everything gets smarter.
00:02:32.560 Here’s the current state. Most of the
00:02:34.480 devices in your house are kind of dumb.
00:02:37.120 Think about if it has a battery or it’s
00:02:39.200 got power to it. They say this is a
00:02:40.879 smart toothbrush. Why? Because it
00:02:42.800 vibrates. That’s not a smart toothbrush.
00:02:44.480 The smart devices, that was like a
00:02:46.319 branding thing. They exist, but they’re
00:02:47.840 not actually smart. They’re not
00:02:49.280 learning. They’re not personalized. They
00:02:51.680 don’t really help you. 2026, massive
00:02:54.879 transformation. The smart home market,
00:02:56.879 it’s a $174 billion industry by the end
00:02:59.920 of the year. My brother’s a home
00:03:01.040 builder, so he tells me about this. The
00:03:02.959 AI brain inside of every device, your
00:03:05.360 toothbrush, your coffee maker, your
00:03:07.360 thermostat, the doorbell, your fridge,
00:03:09.920 literally your TV will change the way
00:03:12.080 these devices talk to each other. Your
00:03:14.239 scale is going to talk to your fridge.
00:03:16.319 Okay? Like, it’s going to tell you you
00:03:18.239 can’t order that cuz you told me you
00:03:20.239 wanted to lose weight, so I’m going to
00:03:22.080 help you. Here’s what this means for
00:03:23.920 you. Your home becomes an AI helper that
00:03:26.800 knows what you need. People say to me,
00:03:28.400 it’s like, Dan, that’s a scary future.
00:03:30.080 You know what? Here’s what I know.
00:03:31.519 Everything that’s been electrified will
00:03:33.120 be cognified. Right now, it’s the
00:03:34.640 laptops, it’s your phone, but everything
00:03:36.640 that has power or a battery will have
00:03:39.519 cognition because the AI is getting
00:03:41.840 smaller, faster, and deployable on those
00:03:43.840 little devices, and they’ll be able to
00:03:45.519 talk and coordinate. No different than
00:03:47.040 you set up AI automations to do things
00:03:48.879 for you at work that comes into your
00:03:50.959 home through the devices. If your
00:03:52.959 toothbrush is about to have AI, your
00:03:55.200 business better have it. But most
00:03:56.879 business owners say, "I’m using AI. I’m
00:03:58.959 using Chad GBT." but your team really
00:04:00.879 isn’t. You don’t know how to automate
00:04:02.239 stuff. You don’t even know how to do
00:04:03.280 custom code. In the world of disposable
00:04:05.040 apps, you need to know how to do that.
00:04:06.560 So, if you want my internal AI playbook
00:04:09.120 for how I deploy AI in every freaking
00:04:11.680 department in my life, just find me on
00:04:13.760 Instagram and message me AI business and
00:04:16.079 I’ll send it right over. Look, your
00:04:18.000 devices are about to get smart, but AI
00:04:20.160 won’t just be helping with the task.
00:04:21.680 It’s about to help you with everything
00:04:23.040 else in your life. Trend number three,
00:04:25.759 everyone will have an AI assistant.
00:04:28.000 Today, everyone still handles their own
00:04:30.639 calendar and their email and their
00:04:32.479 research reports. But the truth is,
00:04:34.400 we’ve seen a glimpse of this already.
00:04:36.320 The Iron Man’s of the world, right,
00:04:37.759 where everybody’s got a Jarvis.
00:04:40.160 >> Wake up, Daddy Sean.
00:04:41.759 >> Welcome home, son.
00:04:42.880 >> It’s crazy because workers still spend
00:04:44.800 60% of their time on boring admin work.
00:04:47.840 None of that work is being helped or
00:04:50.000 co-pilot or created with AI to make it
00:04:52.320 personal. It’s just stuff that’s got to
00:04:54.320 get done. The transformation in 2026 is
00:04:57.520 crazy. Soon every worker gets their own
00:05:00.400 AI assistant where it does 50 70% of the
00:05:03.919 daily task on its own. Not a tool. We
00:05:06.880 already got that. An actual AI assistant
00:05:09.600 that knows you. It knows your
00:05:11.759 sensitivities. It knows your beliefs. It
00:05:13.680 knows your values. It learns your
00:05:15.039 writing style. Yes, I already have that.
00:05:16.800 No, you don’t. Cuz you got to tweak it
00:05:18.639 every time. Imagine you never have to
00:05:20.160 touch it the first time you ask it to do
00:05:21.680 something. You actually say, "This is
00:05:23.039 the outcome I want." and it goes to work
00:05:25.120 to get you that. It manages the project
00:05:26.880 files. It updates your Slack. It updates
00:05:28.639 your Trello board. It updates
00:05:30.320 everything. And it’s not just me saying
00:05:32.000 it, okay? People using AI assistants are
00:05:34.240 already saving more than 30 minutes per
00:05:36.400 day. And that’s just the tipping point.
00:05:38.479 Here’s an example. You wake up and you
00:05:40.479 find out your AI already rescheduled
00:05:42.639 three meetings that had conflicts. It
00:05:44.320 drafted 15 email replies and sent some
00:05:46.880 of them in your voice and it prepared a
00:05:48.880 summary of all the documents and
00:05:50.400 information you needed to know to start
00:05:52.400 your day with a vengeance. Here’s what
00:05:54.479 it’s going to mean for you. You get to
00:05:56.160 work on important and strategic work.
00:05:58.400 You become the manager of the AI. You
00:06:00.800 configure it. You teach it. This is
00:06:02.639 already here today. It’s called RLHF.
00:06:05.440 Reinforcement learning with human
00:06:07.360 feedback. Meaning that’s what you get to
00:06:09.120 do in the [music] future. You get to let
00:06:10.960 it learn on its own and you give it the
00:06:12.880 data to learn from and then you give it
00:06:14.400 feedback to make sure it’s doing the
00:06:15.759 right thing. That is how AI is trained
00:06:17.680 today. It’s just it’s going to move to
00:06:19.280 the people so that you have an AI
00:06:21.199 assistant doing it all and you get to
00:06:22.880 tweak it so that you can focus on what
00:06:25.199 really matters. Your creative work, the
00:06:27.199 things that brings you joy, the stuff
00:06:28.800 that allows you to have the time to talk
00:06:30.400 to the people. That’s what business
00:06:31.919 really is. Business isn’t B2B. It’s H to
00:06:34.560 H, human to human. The AI does all the
00:06:37.520 computer stuff so that you can talk to
00:06:39.120 somebody. So that’s personal AI doing
00:06:41.759 half your job. Now next, let’s talk
00:06:43.919 about something you deal with almost
00:06:45.199 every day. Customer service. Trend
00:06:47.280 number four. No more waiting on hold. It
00:06:50.479 is wild that when my credit card has
00:06:53.280 fraud, I have to wait to talk to a
00:06:55.600 person. See, and it’s crazy because they
00:06:57.280 got support teams that needs humans
00:06:59.120 answering phone calls 9 to 5. If it’s
00:07:01.120 after hours and nobody’s around, you’re
00:07:02.720 out of luck. Here’s how I know in 2026
00:07:05.599 that’s going to change completely. IBM
00:07:07.599 and Zenesk say AI can handle 80% of
00:07:10.319 customer questions and cut service costs
00:07:12.160 by 30%.
00:07:14.000 It’s just not widely deployed. Today,
00:07:16.639 you’ve already seen this. You can chat
00:07:18.479 with support. You can have it book
00:07:20.560 meetings for you. It can answer
00:07:21.759 questions. You know, it can qualify
00:07:23.280 leads. It sounds fully human. It never
00:07:25.599 complains. It never gives you attitude.
00:07:27.680 And the coolest part, it doesn’t take
00:07:29.039 any days off. Here’s an example. I want
00:07:31.520 to go to the gym in the morning. I call
00:07:33.280 the gym, it’s closed. I want to talk to
00:07:35.039 somebody, get sign up, get a day pass,
00:07:36.960 answer my questions, know if you have
00:07:38.400 equipment. If you don’t have AI
00:07:40.240 answering that call, you don’t get me
00:07:41.440 there in the morning as a customer.
00:07:42.435 [music] You have AI sit there and take
00:07:44.479 that call. It’ll get me as a customer.
00:07:46.720 Right now, there’s tools like your.com
00:07:48.880 that’s part of my portfolio where all
00:07:50.720 the inbound calls to the business is
00:07:53.120 handled by AI. It qualifies. It answers
00:07:56.080 questions. It scheduled a call. Do the
00:07:58.319 sales call. Send them a text message
00:08:00.080 with a link so the business owner can
00:08:02.160 focus on doing the business. But this is
00:08:04.720 what it means for you. Businesses never
00:08:06.720 close. Customers can get help 24/7.
00:08:09.759 There’s no wait time. I would love to
00:08:12.080 call a bunch of different companies to
00:08:14.000 spend more money with them if I knew I
00:08:15.680 wasn’t going to be put on hold. Okay?
00:08:16.879 You as a business owner, you’ll never
00:08:18.400 miss a lead again. [music] You’ll never
00:08:19.840 miss a customer again. You’ll never get
00:08:21.280 a pissed-off person that doesn’t bother
00:08:22.800 con because they don’t want to talk to
00:08:23.919 somebody that’s uneducated on your team
00:08:25.199 you just hired because they’re 22 and
00:08:26.720 they don’t know anything about your
00:08:28.000 company. Oftent times the customer knows
00:08:30.400 more about your product than the person
00:08:32.000 you hired to support them. AI knows more
00:08:34.719 than the customer and [music] the
00:08:35.679 support person combined times a
00:08:37.360 thousand. If you want to check it out
00:08:38.479 for yourself, go check out youratlas.com
00:08:40.479 and actually do the demo on the website
00:08:42.479 to see how it works. So here’s the big
00:08:44.320 idea. No more waiting on hold. And that
00:08:46.720 same AI technology is about to run
00:08:48.880 entire departments in your business.
00:08:51.040 Trend number five, AI agents running
00:08:53.839 entire departments today. Every
00:08:56.480 department, it still needs a human.
00:08:58.240 Okay? You still have somebody that leads
00:08:59.839 sales support your finance department.
00:09:02.480 It’s very human ccentric. Growing a
00:09:04.480 department today, it’s going to be
00:09:06.000 completely different. I’m already seeing
00:09:07.440 it. My head of finance, Jared, literally
00:09:09.600 has a plan already in place where 80% of
00:09:12.000 his work AI powered. Tools like
00:09:13.920 HelloFrank.ai AI is literally a CFO AI
00:09:17.200 that small business owners use already
00:09:19.519 to manage and run the whole finance
00:09:21.519 department. The good news is it’s going
00:09:22.880 to allow you to talk to the people on
00:09:24.399 your team, invest in your people,
00:09:25.760 develop your people to make them better.
00:09:27.680 And it’s not my opinion. This is what
00:09:29.279 the data says. I think I read like by
00:09:31.040 2030, 30% of hours currently worked in
00:09:34.000 the US could be done by AI. Instead of
00:09:35.839 hiring five sales people and three
00:09:37.440 finance people, you have an AI agent
00:09:39.279 handling sales and handling AI finance.
00:09:41.760 Now, does that mean the whole stack of
00:09:43.360 sales are AI? Maybe not. Maybe 90% of
00:09:45.760 it, maybe 80% of it, [music] but it’s
00:09:47.600 definitely not going to be none. That is
00:09:49.600 the future. AI running departments. How
00:09:53.040 does this impact you? First off, some
00:09:55.519 departments you’ll become a director of
00:09:57.519 the AI, not managing people. The human
00:10:00.160 focus [music] is now on strategy. It’s
00:10:02.399 on special cases. It’s on big decisions.
00:10:04.800 It’s on sequencing because sequencing
00:10:06.880 equals success. That’s what you should
00:10:08.959 get good at. Check out.ai AI to see how
00:10:12.080 this looks, but it will automate the
00:10:14.000 whole finance department for small
00:10:15.360 businesses. So, now we talked about how
00:10:17.279 AI replaces departments. Let’s talk
00:10:19.519 about how this affects your home from a
00:10:21.360 different angle. Trend number six,
00:10:23.440 household AI robots. In my home, I still
00:10:27.440 have to do certain things and I wish
00:10:29.920 that I didn’t have to pick up after
00:10:31.120 myself cuz then I could move through the
00:10:32.399 world easier. My wife wouldn’t get upset
00:10:33.920 with me and she wouldn’t text me saying,
00:10:35.120 "I really get insulted when you leave
00:10:36.640 your stuff around." I get it. I have
00:10:38.240 this rule that I’m trying to get to
00:10:39.519 where you can’t tell what room I’ve been
00:10:41.760 in if I’ve been in the house. That’s my
00:10:43.440 goal. I don’t know if I’ll get there,
00:10:45.040 but that’s the philosophy. If I had what
00:10:47.200 I’m about to share with you, that would
00:10:48.480 be there today. The truth is today, the
00:10:51.040 best we have is like a robot vacuum.
00:10:53.360 Where we’re going in 2026 is a
00:10:56.560 completely different world. And we’ve
00:10:58.000 seen it already. Cheap AI powered robots
00:11:00.880 with [music] arms that pick things up,
00:11:02.720 that help with tasks. I’m talking load
00:11:04.880 the dishwasher, clean up after yourself.
00:11:07.279 All this stuff if you had a full-time
00:11:09.440 butler, the AI will do for you. And you
00:11:12.079 might be like, "Oh, damn. That’ll never
00:11:13.519 happen." All right, go check out Optimus
00:11:15.760 by Tesla, Elon’s. Check out Neo, okay?
00:11:18.640 Backed by Open AI. Check out Figure 3.
00:11:21.120 They just came out with their latest
00:11:22.560 model by Figure AI. When you see these
00:11:24.720 things, it looks like it’s fake, like
00:11:26.640 CGI, but I’m telling you, these are real
00:11:28.560 robots that learn by watching you do
00:11:30.640 things, and they’re smart. [music] The
00:11:32.880 household robot market will hit a $17
00:11:35.600 billion market by the end of 2026. Elon
00:11:38.959 has 800,000 [music]
00:11:40.480 square feet of production manufacturing
00:11:43.040 in Texas ready to go for the Optimus.
00:11:46.000 And in 2026, you’re going to start going
00:11:48.079 to your friends houses and meeting their
00:11:49.680 robots. It’s going to be wild. So, what
00:11:52.640 does this mean for you? This is where I
00:11:54.160 get super excited. As the guy who wrote
00:11:55.519 the book, Buy Back Your Time, this one
00:11:57.600 is near and dear to my heart. Think
00:11:59.440 about all the time you spend on
00:12:01.360 household chores. All that time you get
00:12:03.519 back now in your week. You get to go to
00:12:05.440 the gym. You got time to call your
00:12:07.200 parents. You got time to read books. You
00:12:09.200 get time to take care of your kids
00:12:10.800 better. You get time to take care of
00:12:12.320 yourself better. Here’s my [music]
00:12:13.760 prediction. In 5 years, hiring a human
00:12:16.320 to clean your home will sound as crazy
00:12:18.720 as hiring a human to run calculations
00:12:21.040 for you on a calculator. So now we got
00:12:23.440 robots in your house doing chores. But
00:12:25.440 it won’t be just in your house. It’ll
00:12:27.440 also be in your car. Trend number seven,
00:12:30.320 AI robots will drive your car. Today, we
00:12:33.279 have self-driving cars. A lot of the
00:12:35.120 Teslas have full self-driving FSD built
00:12:37.839 into it. But what’s happening is a lot
00:12:39.200 of these car manufacturers are like,
00:12:40.720 "Look, we could try to solve that
00:12:42.320 problem, but then we got to build the AI
00:12:44.240 knowhow and we got to change the
00:12:45.680 hardware in all the cars for it to work
00:12:47.360 so that the car can drive itself."
00:12:48.959 Here’s what you’re going to start to see
00:12:50.160 in 2026. And you kind of see it with the
00:12:52.639 Whimo. The Whimo is self-driving. If
00:12:54.800 you’ve never used it, it’s crazy. AI
00:12:56.880 powered robot sitting in your car will
00:13:00.000 drive your car. Now every vehicle
00:13:02.959 becomes self-driving. The same robot
00:13:05.519 that can do all the household chores or
00:13:07.279 doing work for BMW or UPS stores today.
00:13:10.000 That’s what figuring all these companies
00:13:11.440 do will be able to see the road. They’ll
00:13:14.000 use the pedals. They’ll turn the
00:13:15.360 steering wheel just like a human. Like
00:13:17.680 your 2005 Tacoma now becomes an AI
00:13:20.720 powered truck. Tesla announced they’re
00:13:22.880 going to build 50,000 Optimus robots in
00:13:25.600 2026 using the exact same software and
00:13:28.399 hardware as their cars. The same AI
00:13:31.360 powered chip that they built for
00:13:32.639 themselves for the cars are going to go
00:13:34.079 in the robot. Why wouldn’t they drive
00:13:36.079 the car? How much more productivity
00:13:38.000 could you get if you could sit in the
00:13:39.680 back seat with your laptop and your
00:13:41.600 robot drives you around? So, with AI
00:13:44.079 robots driving your car, I think we can
00:13:46.160 expect for AI to take over even more.
00:13:49.040 Trend number eight, AI powered delivery.
00:13:51.839 I mean, today, if you think about it,
00:13:53.600 delivery needs still humans. Like,
00:13:55.120 there’s still somebody that drops off
00:13:56.800 things at my house. The Amazon guy, the
00:13:59.279 food delivery, okay? Which means that
00:14:01.199 it’s limited in its ability to deliver
00:14:03.279 me stuff at speed. And there’s still
00:14:04.800 high cost for that last mile, right? The
00:14:06.720 last mile is going from the warehouse in
00:14:09.600 a city to the home. It’s actually the
00:14:11.760 most expensive part on getting something
00:14:13.760 from point A to point B. Okay? In 2026,
00:14:17.040 what you’re going to see is delivery
00:14:18.959 drones. You’re going to see warehouse
00:14:20.679 [music] bots. You’re going to see last
00:14:21.839 mile robots everywhere running up and
00:14:23.839 down. You’re already seeing in certain
00:14:25.199 cities where there are food delivery
00:14:26.800 boxes driving down the sidewalk and they
00:14:28.880 like come and then they text the owner
00:14:30.480 and you open your door and then you take
00:14:31.839 the thing out of the box and takes a
00:14:33.279 picture of you, a picture of the stuff,
00:14:34.480 and it’s off to the races. Amazon has
00:14:36.880 already said this. They aim to deliver
00:14:38.880 500 million packages per year by drone
00:14:41.920 by 2030. Just the drone side of things.
00:14:44.079 And I think it starts in 2026 [music] in
00:14:46.079 a meaningful way. Here’s how this makes
00:14:48.240 your life better. First, faster, cheaper
00:14:50.800 delivery as a customer. If we can get
00:14:52.720 the last mile down to zero, then
00:14:54.720 everything gets cheaper cuz that’s where
00:14:56.320 you’re paying for stuff. And think about
00:14:57.680 in new business ideas, they get
00:14:59.360 unlocked. If all of a sudden the cost of
00:15:01.120 logistics and delivery goes to zero,
00:15:02.720 there’s a whole lot of other businesses
00:15:03.910 [music] that can come from that. And if
00:15:05.360 you run a business with delivery, this
00:15:07.360 is a gamecher. We’re kind of moving from
00:15:09.360 like people bringing stuff to stuff
00:15:11.680 bringing itself. So all these parts of
00:15:14.320 life will 100% be infused with AI. But
00:15:16.800 there’s one final trend. The one that
00:15:19.839 determines if you win or you get left
00:15:21.839 behind. Trend number nine. Knowing AI
00:15:24.800 will be the biggest career advantage.
00:15:26.959 Today AI is still like the nice to have.
00:15:29.360 It’s definitely needed in my world, but
00:15:31.040 there are still jobs that don’t like
00:15:32.560 make it a must. Most people literally
00:15:34.880 are like dabblers at best. And companies
00:15:37.440 haven’t yet made it a requirement. They
00:15:40.399 haven’t said, "Show me your
00:15:41.760 proficiency." just like they would to
00:15:43.360 say, "Show me that you can use Google
00:15:45.199 Docs or show me that you can type fast
00:15:47.279 enough or whatever [music] it is,
00:15:48.399 right?" Like, that’s not there yet.
00:15:50.639 2026,
00:15:52.240 gloves are off. The number one
00:15:54.000 conversation I have with all the CEOs
00:15:55.680 that I coach is, how [music] do I force
00:15:57.680 my employees to adopt it? How do I get
00:15:59.759 them to learn it? I’m done. I’m sick of
00:16:01.759 it. AI hackathons are going to be the
00:16:03.839 new future. Hiring new people that are
00:16:05.680 AI native that can code, can build apps,
00:16:08.079 can actually configure the AIs, that’s
00:16:10.079 the new norm. If you don’t learn how to
00:16:12.560 do this, trust [music] me, 2026 is going
00:16:15.199 to be the year where you’re going to
00:16:16.399 start to feel it in your job. This is
00:16:18.240 not just Chad GPT. This is knowing how
00:16:20.959 to use the AI tools and prompt it to do
00:16:24.000 your job. And the crazy part is the next
00:16:26.000 wave of millionaires and billionaires
00:16:28.320 will come from AI innovators and AI
00:16:30.480 experts. And here’s how I know this. On
00:16:32.240 LinkedIn, job posts mentioning AI has
00:16:35.360 grown 3.5 [music]
00:16:36.800 times faster than any other job
00:16:38.560 category. and AI skills can literally
00:16:41.120 boost your salary up to 56%. I’m
00:16:43.680 literally looking at my teams execute
00:16:45.759 and the person that learns how to set
00:16:47.440 up, make, and automate their work. So,
00:16:49.040 it actually frees up their time to go
00:16:50.480 work on harder and more fun projects,
00:16:52.480 they’re getting the opportunities. So,
00:16:54.480 here’s what this means for you. Learning
00:16:56.240 AI now puts you ahead of 95% of people.
00:16:59.440 Early adopters win big. They always
00:17:01.279 have. Lagards, they’re the ones that get
00:17:03.279 disrupted and left behind. It’s not like
00:17:05.359 you’re not hearing this from people. The
00:17:07.679 future isn’t AI versus humans. It’s AI
00:17:10.319 powered humans versus the rest. The gap
00:17:13.119 between AI users and AI avoiders is
00:17:15.599 getting wider every freaking day. People
00:17:19.039 want to say, "Well, I don’t agree. I
00:17:21.199 don’t like it." Here’s the thing. I
00:17:22.720 know. A belief that doesn’t support my
00:17:24.959 future isn’t a belief I want to nourish.
00:17:27.520 And there’s no way you’re going to stop
00:17:29.840 this from happening. It’s a foregone
00:17:31.760 conclusion. I just don’t want you to
00:17:33.679 think you’ve got another year. If you
00:17:35.679 haven’t made the decision to go allin on
00:17:38.240 AI in 2026, this is the year where it’s
00:17:41.280 going to hurt your bank account. It’s
00:17:42.880 going to hurt your opportunities. It’s
00:17:44.320 going to hurt the people you love the
00:17:45.679 most because you won’t be prepared. And
00:17:47.760 that’s why I continue to try to show you
00:17:50.000 and explain you and bring the data and
00:17:51.919 give you the use cases and invite you
00:17:54.080 into my world where I’m inside of it at
00:17:56.799 the highest level building software with
00:17:59.200 the smartest engineers in the world.
00:18:01.520 seeing 18 months into the future. And I
00:18:03.520 bring this to you. And if you think,
00:18:05.200 well, I don’t know how to get started.
00:18:07.200 I’m telling you yet again, you use AI to
00:18:10.320 teach AI. Let it close the gap in real
00:18:12.960 time. Talk to it. Ask it to teach you.
00:18:15.280 It will. There’s no more excuses. Stop
00:18:17.600 pretending not to know. I need you to
00:18:19.840 win. So, if you’re down this year,
00:18:21.679 comment below, AI. I want to hear AI in
00:18:24.480 the comments below. That’s your
00:18:26.000 commitment to me and to yourself that
00:18:28.240 2026 is the year of the trend where you
00:18:30.880 jump on them and you change your life.
00:18:32.559 And remember, if you’re an entrepreneur
00:18:33.840 and you want to implement AI into your
00:18:35.600 business, just find me on Instagram and
00:18:37.440 message me AI business and I’ll send you
00:18:39.440 over my internal playbook. And if you
00:18:41.200 want to learn what are the six most
00:18:42.720 profitable AI businesses to start in
00:18:44.559 2026, click here and I’ll see you on the
00:18:46.559 other

Dan Martell

Dan Martell is the bestselling author of “Buy Back Your Time” and the #1 executive coach for founders and CEO’s in the world. He was named Forbes Top 10 Business People to Follow on Social Media and is a highly sought-after speaker, including events by Tony Robbins and John Maxwell. He’s a husband and dad of two boys, and when he’s not in family mode, he’s competing in Ironman races and supporting troubled youth.

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