IEEE Releases Tech Predictions for 2026
NISO Member News
AI Dominates This Year's Technology Forecast
The IEEE and the IEEE Computer Society recently announced the release of their Technology Predictions report for 2026. Produced by an international team of 114 technology experts, the report makes 26 predictions, most of them related to AI technologies and how they will transform work and other aspects of our daily lives. From the press release:
“AI-based megatrends in health, energy, space, robotics, and emerging verticals are molding the future of work, medicine, software development, and more,” said IEEE Life Fellow Dejan Milojicic, IEEE Computer Society Technology Predictions Committee chair. “This year’s report points to the ways AI will change life as we know it in the coming year, as well as previewing the engineering developments that are shaping the future.”
The Predictions
The report notes the unprecedented speed at which AI is developing and impacting work across many businesses and industries, including medicine and space communications. Some of the trends predicted, like the growth of the role of agentic AI at work, may be of particular interest to professionals in scholarly communications:
"Agents will become standard 'team members' for most knowledge workers. Competitive advantage shifts from headcount scale to intelligence leverage."
Other trends of interest include the continued growth of AI-generated content, increasing government regulation of AI, and the potential of AI to optimize personalized learning.
The full report, which can be downloaded from the IEEE website (email address required), also provides a detailed analysis of the challenges and opportunities presented by each trend. It concludes with recommendations for stakeholders, including those working in industry, professional organizations, and academia; developers; and investors. Recommendations for end users include learning to use AI agents at work and developing “verification literacy” required to, for example, audit AI activity for errors as well as identify AI-manipulated images.