The IEEE released “The Impact of Technology in 2026 and Beyond: an IEEE Global Study” surveyed 400 CIOs, CTOs, IT directors, and other technology leaders in Brazil, China, Japan, India, the U.K. and U.S. at organizations with more than 1,000 employees across multiple industry sectors including banking and financial services, consumer goods, education, electronics, engineering, energy, government, healthcare, insurance, retail, and telecommunications. The survey was conducted September 11-17, 2025.
I find surveys interesting for an understanding of current sentiment among people who may be involved in the area but seldom have time to think through the questions. As a former product development professional, I’d never use these for developing new products. You need to be a little ahead of this curve.
Still, consider these as opinions coming from a background of much media hype about AI and Agents.
In general, the survey found these opinions:
- Widespread Use of Agentic AI as a ‘Smart Assistant’ for Everyday Tasks Such as Personal Shopper, Scheduler, Data Privacy Manager and Health Monitor Expected; Agentic AI Growth Will Also Spur a Data Analyst Hiring Boom
- Annual trends study forecasts robotics, extended reality, autonomous vehicles, quantum computing and renewable energy as technology areas AI will influence the most in 2026
Be wary of adjectives and adverbs injected into survey releases. Phrases such as “lightning speed” should be sent through the BS filter of your mind. Developments have seemed fast over the past few years. They also seem to have stalled.
Agentic AI is like a smart assistant that, when given a task, can work independently, but still needs its work double-checked. Its adoption is on the rise, and a strong majority of technologists globally (96%) agree that agentic AI innovation, exploration and adoption will continue at lightning speed in 2026, as both established enterprises and start-ups deepen investments and commitments to the technology.
Following are a lot of percentages. I’d advise skimming rather than getting lost in the minutiae.
The rise of agentic AI won’t be confined to business. Survey respondents see it reaching mass or near-mass adoption by consumers in 2026 for the following uses:
- (52%) Personal assistant | scheduler | family calendar manager
- (45%) Data privacy manager
- (41%) Health monitor
- (41%) Errand and chore automator (e.g. grocery orders)
- (36%) News and information curator
In addition, 91% agree the use of agentic AI to analyze greater amounts of data will grow in 2026, spurring a data analyst hiring boom to analyze the accuracy of results, transparency and vulnerabilities.
An interesting list of anticipated top skills for employees follows. Looks as if they have little to do specifically with AI (save one).
According to the survey, the top skills technologists will seek in candidates they plan to hire for AI-related roles in 2026 are:
- (44%) AI ethical practices skills (+9% from prior year)
- (38%) Data analysis skills (+4% from prior year)
- (34%) Machine learning skills (+6% from prior year)
- (32%) Data modeling skills, including processing (no change from prior year)
- (32%) Software development skills (-8% from prior year)
An interesting list of applications. Why was extended reality cited? That seems a long way off, if ever happening. Autonomous vehicles do keep improving.
A majority (77%) of technologists agree the novelty of humanoid robots can inject fun into the workplace but over time will become like commonplace co-workers with circuits. Robotics is also a top area of technology over half (52%) of technologists think will be influenced by AI in 2026. Other areas influenced by AI in 2026 will include extended reality (XR), including augmented, virtual and mixed reality (36%); and autonomous vehicles (35%).
I don’t see manufacturing/industrial applications hitting the top list.
Meanwhile, the top industries expected to experience the greatest transformation from AI next year will be software (52%); banking and financial services (42%); healthcare (37%) and automotive and transportation (32%).
Will they use it?
- (39%) Using Regularly, But Selectively: Generative AI will continue to be a regular part of our work in selective areas, and adds value. (+20% from prior year)
- (35%) Rapidly Integrating, Expecting Bottom Line Results: AI will continue to be integrated throughout all our operations. We’ve already seen measurable bottom line results and expect these to grow.
The top uses for AI applications technology leaders expect in 2026 includes:
- (47%) Real-time cybersecurity vulnerability identification and attack prevention (-1% from prior year)
- (39%) Aiding and/or accelerating software development (+4% from prior year)
- (35%) Increasing supply chain and warehouse automation efficiencies (+2% from prior year)
- (32%) Automating customer service (+4% from prior year)
- (29%) Powering educational activities such as customizing learning, intelligent tutoring systems, university chatbots (-10% from prior year)
- (23%) Accelerating disease mapping and drug discovery (-3% from prior year)
- (22%) Automating and/or stabilizing utility power sources (-3% from prior year)
Will you be using AI—really?
More than half of those surveyed (51%) cited 26-50% of jobs across the global economy will be augmented by AI software in 2026, while less than one-third (30%) cited 51-75% of jobs, (16%) cited 1-25% of jobs, and only (4%) cited 76-100% of jobs.
I’m thinking we may be reaching peak capital investment—mostly for economic reason, not technical. But many people ride the wave.
Close to half of technologists (49%) think it will take 5-7 years to build out the global data center infrastructure required to meet growing AI development and demand. One-third think it will happen sooner, in 3-4 years, while 10% think it will not happen for 8-10 years or more.
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