Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2026. Read them in this 18th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.
By Patrick Harding, Chief Product Architect, Ping Identity
As AI agents move from concept to daily reality, the foundations of digital trust are being rewritten in real time. Identity is no longer just a security layer. It’s becoming the mechanism that determines who acts, what they’re allowed to do, and whether those actions can be believed. To understand where this shift is headed, I spoke with leaders across Ping Identity who are watching these changes unfold from the front lines. Their predictions point to a year where verification, transparency, and next-generation encryption become defining forces in the digital economy.
Andre Durand, Founder & CEO
Agentic AI Will Demand Proof of Intent
“In 2026, identity will become the universal language of accountability. Every action will need to show proof – who or what did it, under what policy, and with whose consent. Trust won’t hinge on claims; it will hinge on proof. The organizations that can verify both identity and intent will define the new standard for digital trust.”
A New Threat Emerges: �Agent-in-the-Middle’
“As AI agents become part of daily workflows, a new threat is emerging: the agent-in-the-middle. These agents can see screens, move cursors, and act on our behalf. It’s the next evolution of man-in-the-middle attacks – only now, the intruder is software you invited. Detecting and governing those agents will be one of cybersecurity’s defining challenges. Knowing when AI is acting – and who it’s acting for – will separate the secure from the exposed.”
The Next Security Imperative: Verify Everyone, Everywhere
“In 2026, verification becomes the new perimeter. Attackers have shifted left into hiring and right into help-desk recovery – the front door and back door are both inside the company now. Every employee. Every contractor. Every help-desk call. All verified. Organizations that embed self-service, privacy-preserving verification into onboarding and recovery will stay ahead of fraud and insider threats. Verify first, then trust.”
Darryl Jones, Vice President of Consumer Segment Strategy
Consumer Agents Will Redefine Commerce and the Human Role in the Digital Economy
“The rise of AI agents will continue to disrupt traditional e-commerce. This new channel will make consumers’ lives easier by eliminating the friction of working across organizations and multiple channels to complete customer journeys, like brainstorming a trip, booking that trip, traveling, and then returning and remembering that trip.
The agentic channel will also change the role humans play in the digital economy. As agents are increasingly empowered to make payments on behalf of users, organizations need to be prepared to take advantage and compete for agent customers within this new channel, and understand that the omnichannel experience has now truly evolved.”
AI Will Reshape Trust and Discovery, From Detecting Deepfakes to What We Buy
“We can no longer trust our eyes or ears due to the rise of easy to access deep fakes and AI threats. It’s now more critical than ever to assure the person is who you expect on the other side of any digital interaction. Good AI can help us understand and detect when things go awry – and also improve customer experience without sacrificing security.
AI will also be there as we make purchasing decisions, guiding our path through the internet based on our prompt. In the end, AI and agents may decide which products to show us, even if, for example, they are on page 500 in a Google search. This will unlock new opportunities to find exactly what we are looking for, but also new and better ways that businesses and consumers can connect.”
Trust in AI Will Depend on Radical Transparency
“Brands will need to be radically transparent about how AI shapes consumer experiences, explaining not just what is being recommended, but why. Trust will depend on giving customers clear control over their data and personalization settings, ensuring AI decisions are explainable, unbiased, and privacy-respecting. Companies that combine intelligent automation with visible accountability, letting identity, consent, and ethics drive personalization, will stand out as the most trustworthy in an AI-powered world.”
Suman Sharma, Head of PAM Engineering (co-founder Procyon)
Quantum Threat Spurs Massive Encryption Shift in 2026
“In 2026, the internet’s encryption backbone gets its biggest overhaul in decades – major tech giants will shift to powerful hybrid, quantum-resistant security that replaces today’s aging methods. Web browsers and tools like OpenSSL will fully support these upgrades, making it easy for websites and apps to adopt them by default. High-security industries like finance and defense will move fastest, deploying pure quantum-safe certificates at scale. But most public websites will still use a mix of old and new encryption through the end of the year.”
If 2025 was the year AI entered the mainstream, 2026 will be the year we learn what it truly means to trust it. Identity will evolve into an intelligent system that interprets intent, mediates between humans and agents, and ensures the integrity of every digital action. The organizations that embrace this shift will harden their defenses while unlocking new, more trusted ways for people and machines to collaborate. In a world where agents act autonomously and fraudsters grow more sophisticated, the future belongs to those who make identity the single source of truth.
##
