Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2026. Read them in this 18th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.
By Andy MacMillan, CEO at Alteryx and Joshua Burkhow, Chief Evangelist at Alteryx
After years of experimentation, pilots, and big promises, 2026 is set to be a turning point for enterprise AI. The hype is fading, and a more practical, business-focused approach is finding its footing. Across industries, leaders will recalibrate their AI strategies towards what actually works – measurable, stable, operational solutions embedded in existing workflows.
We’ll also see a shift in ownership. For the past few years, IT teams carried most of the AI budget and the responsibility. Now business leaders are stepping up, asking the questions that matter: What problem are we trying to solve?
Agentic AI will continue to dominate the hype cycle, but real autonomous decision-making will belong only to organizations with solid governance and a grounded approach to implementation. According to Alteryx Chief Executive Officer Andy MacMillan and Chief Evangelist Joshua Burkhow, several major shifts will reshape the AI landscape in 2026:
Refocusing AI: From Big Agents to Practical Automation
The push to build massive, all-knowing agents capable of handling a wide sweeping set of enterprise tasks isn’t working in its current form. In 2026, those projects will start to slow down. Instead, we’ll see a renewed focus on automation with purpose rather than AI for AI’s sake. The spotlight will shift to operational use cases such as finance workflows or customer support, augmented with targeted, domain-specific agents. Rather than try to build all-knowing bots, companies will focus on embedding AI capabilities into existing, proven workflows to drive meaningful impact.
Empowering the Line of Business and the Democratization of the AI Mandate
We’re going to see a course correction from the past few years, where IT teams received the bulk of AI budgets. In 2026, we’ll see line-of-business leaders reclaim ownership of AI strategy and implementation, identifying real problems first and then matching the right technology to solve them.
Along with this shift, CEOs will empower CFOs, sales leaders, and other business leaders to find and fund AI solutions that directly advance their goals rather than leaving it to IT. As a result, AI budgets will follow, with these business groups receiving much of the surplus funding IT teams previously controlled.
Agentic AI arrives, but its true meaning is still up for debate
Agentic AI is expected to dominate the 2026 hype cycle, but consensus on what it actually is will remain elusive. Despite the lessons of GenAI’s early missteps, many organizations will repeat them by rushing into new technologies without clear objectives or governance guardrails.
Competing definitions of “agentic AI” will proliferate, many of them oversimplified or technically inaccurate, as vendors race to rebrand existing products to fit the trend. Amid the noise, a handful of standout projects will demonstrate the real promise of AI systems with genuine decision-making independence.
The enterprises that approach this next shift holistically by embedding governance at the core will manage the right balance between speed and safety, ensuring innovation happens responsibly.
The rise of specialized AI teams
In 2026, organizations will double down on specialized AI teams. Drawing from the hard lessons of generative AI, organizations will shift away from broad, unfocused deployments toward smaller mission-driven teams tasked with focusing on targeted, high-value use cases, such as emerging variations like agentic AI and composite AI. These teams will develop applications that not only impress the industry but also redefine practical innovation, demonstrating that meaningful impact stems from problem-driven AI design rather than a generalized rollout.
The real opportunity in 2026 isn’t chasing the flashiest breakthroughs. It’s about working differently and empowering differently. The companies that lead won’t be those with the biggest AI budgets, but those that align technology with the goals, metrics, and realities of the teams who move the business forward every day.
That’s the story of 2026: AI gets real, business takes the wheel, and impact becomes the only metric that matters.
##
