What’s next for AI in 2026

For many users, interactions with generative AI tools have been limited to asking a chatbot a question and getting an answer. In the next phase of the technology’s development, AI will own tasks end to end, working alongside humans rather than waiting for instructions.

Organizations that treat this shift as incremental will fall behind those building entire platforms to allow agents to operate at scale. “2026 is the year of agentic collaboration in the enterprise,” says Amit Zavery, president, chief product officer, and chief operating officer at ServiceNow. "We'll stop asking AI for simple answers and start letting it autonomously diagnose, plan, and execute multistep workflows to achieve specific outcomes. Agentic will fundamentally redefine roles and accelerate innovation for those who lean in starting now.”

In 2026, we’ll see AI systems that can handle much of the enterprise’s routine work, but they’ll do it inside frameworks designed for trust and transparency, says ServiceNow Chief Digital Information Officer Kellie Romack. Here, the best CIOs won't race to automate everything; they’ll reimagine work and build environments where autonomous AI can evolve safely. Governance will become an enterprise innovation enabler, letting teams test, deploy, and refine AI without slowing down the business.

Next year, continual training and upskilling won’t be just nice-to-haves, but strategic necessities for companies looking to thrive in this uncertain time. Organizations able to adapt and readapt to AI-led innovation will pull ahead, says ServiceNow Chief Analytics Officer Vijay Kotu. A spirit of openness and an understanding that we’re all figuring this out together will take people far. “It can be unsettling, but that's the reality,” says Kotu. “The skill sets we need to get the most out of AI are changing all the time."

Corporate sales teams are already seeing real benefits from using AI to help them ink deals. In 2026, agentic AI will continue to redefine the modern sales team, says Paul Fipps, president of global customer operations at ServiceNow. “We’ve seen firsthand how agents help teams prioritize the right leads, improve conversion, and cut prep time by nearly 80%,” he says. “This is what sales excellence looks like in the next era.” The organizations that win will use AI to expedite the process so sales teams can focus on the customer and winning their business.

Next year, we may see the wide deployment of autonomous digital partners that can change the way work gets done. However, real transformation will take more than just the latest tech. Instead, it will require organizations to rethink jobs, workflows, and organizational structures. Those that embrace this opportunity will be the ones to redefine how humans get work done and what the AI-powered enterprise looks like in 2026 and beyond.