What’s next for AI in 2026
What's Next for AI in 2026
The world of artificial intelligence (AI) is constantly evolving, and 2026 promises to be an exciting year for the industry. From the rise of Chinese open-source models to the increasing use of AI in shopping, we'll explore the key trends and developments that will shape the future of AI.
More Silicon Valley Products Will Be Built on Chinese LLMs
In 2025, Chinese open-source models gained significant traction, with companies like DeepSeek and Alibaba's Qwen family becoming popular choices for developers. These models offer a more customizable and cost-effective alternative to the closed models released by major American firms. As a result, Chinese models have become an easy choice for startups in the US, with reports suggesting that many have already adopted them.
One of the key benefits of Chinese open-source models is their ability to be customized and fine-tuned for specific tasks. For example, Qwen's family of models includes specialized versions tuned for math, coding, vision, and instruction-following. This level of customization is not possible with closed models, which are often proprietary and expensive.
The use of Chinese open-source models is not limited to startups. In August, OpenAI released its first open-source model, and in November, the Allen Institute for AI released its latest open-source model, Olmo 3. This trend is expected to continue in 2026, with more companies adopting open-source models and pushing the boundaries of what is possible with AI.
The US Will Face Another Year of Regulatory Tug-of-War
The battle over regulating artificial intelligence is heading for a showdown. On December 11, President Donald Trump signed an executive order aiming to neuter state AI laws, a move meant to handcuff states from keeping the growing industry in check. In 2026, expect more political warfare as the White House and states spar over who gets to govern the booming technology.
Big Democratic states like California will take the fight to court, arguing that only Congress can override state laws. However, states that can't afford to lose federal funding or fear getting in Trump's crosshairs might fold. Still, expect to see more state lawmaking on hot-button issues, especially where Trump's order gives states a green light to legislate.
The regulatory landscape will be further complicated by President Trump's executive order, which promises to work with Congress to establish a federal AI law. However, Congress failed to pass a moratorium on state legislation twice in 2025, and it's unlikely that they will deliver their own bill this year.
Chatbots Will Change the Way We Shop
Imagine a world in which you have a personal shopper at your disposal 24-7 – an expert who can instantly recommend a gift for even the trickiest-to-buy-for friend or relative, or trawl the web to draw up a list of the best bookcases available within your tight budget. Better yet, they can analyze a kitchen appliance's strengths and weaknesses, compare it with its seemingly identical competition, and find you the best deal.
This ultra-knowledgeable shopper isn't a clued-up human at all – it's a chatbot. This is no distant prediction, either. Salesforce recently said it anticipates that AI will drive $263 billion in online purchases this holiday season. That's some 21% of all orders. And experts are betting on AI-enhanced shopping becoming even bigger business within the next few years.
By 2030, between $3 trillion and $5 trillion annually will be made from agentic commerce, according to research from the consulting firm McKinsey. Unsurprisingly, AI companies are already heavily invested in making purchasing through their platforms as frictionless as possible. Google's Gemini app can now tap into the company's powerful Shopping Graph data set of products and sellers, and can even use its agentic technology to call stores on your behalf.
An LLM Will Make an Important New Discovery
Large language models (LLMs) have the potential to extend the bounds of human knowledge. We got a glimpse of how this could work in May, when Google DeepMind revealed AlphaEvolve, a system that used the firm's Gemini LLM to come up with new algorithms for solving unsolved problems.
The breakthrough was to combine Gemini with an evolutionary algorithm that checked its suggestions, picked the best ones, and fed them back into the LLM to make them even better. Google DeepMind used AlphaEvolve to come up with more efficient ways to manage power consumption by data centers and Google's TPU chips.
Researchers at Google DeepMind are now pushing their approach to see how far it will go. And others have been quick to follow their lead. A week after AlphaEvolve came out, Asankhaya Sharma, an AI engineer in Singapore, shared OpenEvolve, an open-source version of Google DeepMind's tool. In September, the Japanese firm Sakana AI released a version of the software called SinkaEvolve.
Legal Fights Heat Up
For a while, lawsuits against AI companies were pretty predictable: Rights holders like authors or musicians would sue companies that trained AI models on their work, and the courts generally found in favor of the tech giants. AI's upcoming legal battles will be far messier.
The fights center on thorny, unresolved questions: Can AI companies be held liable for what their chatbots encourage people to do, as when they help teens plan suicides? If a chatbot spreads patently false information about you, can its creator be sued for defamation? If companies lose these cases, will insurers shun AI companies as clients?
In 2026, we'll start to see the answers to these questions, in part because some notable cases will go to trial. At the same time, the legal landscape will be further complicated by President Trump's executive order.
Conclusion
2026 promises to be an exciting year for the world of artificial intelligence. From the rise of Chinese open-source models to the increasing use of AI in shopping, we'll explore the key trends and developments that will shape the future of AI. As AI continues to evolve, it's essential to stay informed about the latest advancements and their implications.
Source: https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/01/05/1130662/whats-next-for-ai-in-2026/
