many year in reviews, and more to come. my own thoughts this year:
- ai application layer: buzz word of all future predictions for 2026. not going to elaborate more, but refer to [1], [2], [4], [5], [8]. they need to be future-proof (advancements in models will improve the product and not replace it), have strong context management, and be proactive.
- on the edge: our data is in everything. sapped from our attention and clicks and stored in some cloud. i think people will care about reclaiming their data. that, with SLMs and local models, i see on-device AI-native phones and products being the future. @apple, where you at?
- off the grid: people are tired. merriam webster word of the year -- slop. that's when you know it's bad. people want brick phones. people want long attention spans and instagram without reels and real connection. it's going to be a year of (ironically) influencers in meditation camps, touching grass, eco villages, long hikes. i think that's why i like something like plaud -- yes it's an ai product, but it's for irl convos.
- world models and robotics : jagged intelligence (andrej coins in [2]), and then ofc google deepmind's work [8], and then china's big robotic advancements in [9].
- resistent minds, inert bodies: on x, online, at work, the folks around me lock in hard on AI. they're up to date with the latest advancements and tech. on the ground -- the auntie at a cha chaan teng, bus driver, C-suite in big firms -- less willing to adopt. we're creating apps that challenge an ingrained workflow of 20 years -- to some degree, that's also why microsoft copilot struggles (other than it being not very good haha). you have accountants and consultants who breathe excel, set every shortcut, kiss every key with their grubby fingers every day... telling them to use AI chat to help them by writing their formulas wrong, mess up their tables... no thank you. adoption will take time and require a cultural shift of some sort, but it's possible and slowly happening. think MIT report.