Futurists predict what's next for AI and emerging technology

What does the future of AI look like?

LLMs and GenAI will become "business as usual" in the next two years or so, according to Mark Bünger, co-founder and CTO of Futurist Systems, an AI and automation consulting firm and design studio. "Now…everybody is trying to figure it out, but by then everyone will have it figured out," he said.

Bünger also said he expects LLM security to improve. He compared its evolution to that of mobile device security, which quickly advanced to enterprise-grade once organizations began to embrace them.

IT executives can expect other advancements in AI, Bünger said, such as the ability to create 3D representations of the physical environment. Self-driving vehicles, industrial devices used in healthcare and factories, and other robots will use these 3D representations to better understand their spatial surroundings, he said. And AI will make more use of network graph databases, a specialized NoSQL data store that structures, queries and analyzes data using graph theory to improve accuracy and expand its applicability to more use cases.

Ask, whose company helps its clients understand and navigate the effects of emerging technologies, said advancements in how businesses use AI in analytics will be one of the most impactful. These changes will facilitate better, more accurate decision-making in functions across all industries.

Bill Briggs, CTO at Deloitte, said AI advancements, and more specifically AI agents, loom large. Executives will feel more pressure to "move beyond the proof-of-concept purgatory," where many are now, and start scaling AI initiatives that deliver quantifiable returns, he said. That's happening as many businesses are becoming "bold in how they reimagine how they do things," Briggs said.

Briggs also highlighted how AI in robotics is advancing. "We're seeing more investment in the intelligent part," he said, adding that much of the work is happening around purpose-built form factors.

Of course, many industries, such as manufacturing, have used robots for decades. But experts predicted that in the coming years, organizations will be able to use natural language and simulated environments to train them, making deployments faster, easier and more common. And as robots get more intelligent, they will be able to work side by side with humans, rather than in the controlled environments where they generally work today.

Enterprise leaders have to be considering how they embed [emerging technology] in their products to stay competitive … and give their employees new superpowers.

Emerging technology to watch out for

According to futurists we spoke to, the following five emerging technologies are ones tech executives need to be aware of and prepared for to stay competitive in the future.

Edge computing

Edge computing lets businesses process data at the edge, as close to the source as possible. This improves bandwidth, lowers latency and relieves congestion. These considerations are ideal for organizations running AI models in edge environments to improve model performance.

Briggs said he expects increasing computational power, particularly at the edge. Bünger predicted businesses will deploy more LLMs locally "for practical reasons." He said he also expects more AI at the edge in general, because highly efficient, specialized hardware and compact models make that more doable.

Ask said she advises executives to watch for improvements in edge computing "that will allow us to have mass compute power…that will change how we work and how we live." As businesses become increasingly invested in and reliant on AI, mass compute power will be vital to ensure they can maintain a competitive advantage.

Omniscient and Earth intelligence

Bill Ray, distinguished vice president analyst and chief of research at Gartner, said another notable area to watch is Earth intelligence, which uses AI and machine learning to analyze satellite imagery and other observation data of the Earth to create actionable insights that executives can use.

For example, the company Earth-i uses this technology to monitor copper and nickel smelters worldwide. Futures traders would find this information useful, Ray noted. In addition, retailers could use Earth intelligence technology to research sites for new stores, vendors to find new sources of raw materials, farmers to study crop-growing patterns and landlords to study which of their properties are leaking heat.

"[Gartner has] a policy that every single company should be using Earth intelligence, although now only some of them are," Ray said.

Briggs predicted that information and intelligence will become omniscient. For example, utilities will deploy drones to inspect power lines and systems, enabling the companies to analyze inspection, weather, tree growth data and other data, to model potential outages and other risks and to identify and execute remediation actions.

Quantum technology

Quantum computing aims to use quantum physics principles to significantly improve computational capabilities. Potential use cases include advanced modeling in manufacturing, finance and pharmaceuticals. Quantum might also be used to optimize AI and machine learning models, letting them process and analyze data sets and act on them faster.

Quantum sensing is one such technology on the horizon, Ray said. It's an advanced sensor technology that uses the properties of quantum mechanics, such as superposition and entanglement, to measure with atomic-level precision. There are applications for this technology in multiple industries, including medical, mining and defense, Ray said.

While we still haven't achieved quantum utility, experts have predicted that we could see it as soon as the 2030s.

Simulations and digital twins

Another technology of note is intelligent simulation; it will be "hugely important," Ray said. Intelligent simulation will let organizations, executives, workers and people in their daily lives simulate various situations, he added, whether it's cooking a new recipe, moving furniture into a new office or running through a conversation in advance.

Other anticipated advancements include autonomous commerce, in which agents automatically handle shopping and ordering for customers, while seller-side agents handle fulfillment and delivery. Digital twins of the buyer -- "a faithful representation of the individual" -- will facilitate such transactions, Bünger said.

Wearables, displays and interfaces

Deloitte's Briggs said he's anticipating improvements in wearables. In the health sector alone, wearable technologies are expected to enable improved glucose monitoring, smart contact lenses to sense and manage eye health, and e-tattoos that noninvasively collect physiological and psychological health data.

The way people interact with technology will become even simpler and more natural, Briggs said, noting that it has already evolved from using punch cards, to typing and now swiping. Interaction with technology will no longer feel clunky, he said.

Ask anticipates advancements in head-up display technologies will bring big changes for workers, particularly for field workers, and possibly how people in general interact with the world. These displays, which project data directly in a user's line of sight, will integrate more augmented reality technology, so users receive a more accurate view of their surroundings and experience less of a cognitive load as they rely on data from advanced, aware sensors.

Opportunities and challenges ahead

All of these advancements will create opportunities for organizations ready to seize their disruptive capabilities. They'll also present risks and challenges for those who use them to advance their business strategies. Businesses that fail to adapt risk going extinct.

Given the existential threat of falling behind emerging technology, executives must start thinking about how tomorrow's technologies will impact their organizations. It's a tough task, and one that many executives acknowledge they struggle with.

In the KPMG's 2026 "Adaptability Index," of 300 C-suite and senior leaders from public and private U.S. companies, 81% reported that their boards or owners have increased expectations for their organizations' ability to adapt and respond to disruption.

Meanwhile, the "KPMG Global Tech Report 2026" found that a majority of its 2,500 survey respondents said they must take more risks on emerging technologies to stay relevant.

Ask agreed, saying organizations must be bold.

"Enterprise leaders have to be considering how they embed [emerging technology] in their products to stay competitive; how to use it internally to add capacity to functions, speed up workflow and give their employees new superpowers; how to manage the rising costs; and then all of the new security, governance, etc. that goes along with it. It's all-consuming for most executives today," she said.

Mary K. Pratt is an award-winning freelance journalist specializing in enterprise IT, cybersecurity strategy and data management.