The future is probably not as scary as you think. It will just take more brain cells than most of us want to spend.

That line from educator and 70k+ Substack writer Nate Jones has been stuck in my head since we recorded this week’s episode of The AI Download. So this is my attempt to make sense of what’s coming. Not the hype version. The reasonable, hopeful, and realistic one.

These are the ten AI shifts I expect to define 2026.

1. Chatbots fade into the background

Nate said it clearly during our conversation: “The chatbot use case is saturated.”

Meaning the magic will not come from typing into a box anymore. It will come from AI living quietly inside the tools you already use. You will stop thinking of AI as a separate space and start noticing it as a layer in docs, email, spreadsheets, browsers, and devices. Invisible but powerful.

2. You don’t need to learn to code, but you do need to know how to talk to machines properly

Claude Opus 4.5 and no code builders like Lovable can now turn instructions into functioning apps. The challenge becomes expressing your intent clearly. Nate reminded me that when most people try to build something, they suddenly hit all the questions they never knew existed. “Oh no, I have to deploy. What is deployment?”

A little fluency goes a long way.

Researchers at Stanford University and industry leaders have repeatedly shown that productivity gains from AI don’t come from raw access, but from basic literacy, knowing how systems work well enough to ask better questions and spot gaps before they break your workflow.

Here’s a link to some free courses available to help you build this muscle in the new year.

3. Agents become a quiet flex

In 2025, agents were demoed and released by every major company. In 2026, they start living real lives. Some people will run research agents that summarize filings and news every morning. Some will delegate marketing workflows. Some will automate travel planning and renewals.

The early adopters who delegate first will widen the productivity gap. They stop spending time on research, scheduling, reporting, and coordination, and reallocate that time to decisions, creativity, and strategy. That compounding advantage is the story of 2026.

4. Text to video hits the mainstream through ads first 

Sora terrified Hollywood, but advertisers will be the ones to take over our feeds with AI video. Meta is already pushing AI ad creation, including more customization and personalization.

Platforms want a world where a small business owner can produce twenty localized video ads, test them quickly, and scale the winners. When spectacle becomes cheap, taste and curation start to matter more than budget.

5. Open models and on device AI make everything feel alive

DeepSeek also reminded us that “cheap” isn’t the whole story. What matters is efficiency and distribution. Pair that with Google baking Gemini into Android phones, and suddenly every surface becomes a smart surface. You will not choose the model. It will be everywhere automatically.

6. Hollywood and music adapt faster than expected

There will still be outrage and fear. We saw some of that this year. But the business reality is shifting. Disney already signaled interest in licensing IP for AI video generation. And on the podcast, we compared the studio acceptance of AI to the rise of autotune. As I noted, “It is a bit like autotune except on steroids.”

The value of liveness and real presence goes up, not down. If anything, “real” becomes the premium tier.

7. Copyright fights settle into payouts instead of philosophy

The proposed Anthropic settlement suggests the new default. If a company uses legally acquired works for training, it becomes easier to defend. If the data was scraped from pirated copies, it will cost money. Companies will shift from the rhetoric of disruption to the accounting of licensing.

8. AI slop and misinformation deepen the trust crisis

This is not about deepfakes. It is about confirmation bias. Nate said something subtle and wise: “We have an appetite to be fooled by what we want to believe.”

AI does not invent manipulation. It accelerates it. So media literacy becomes survival, not curriculum.

9. The sustainability debate grows up

The doom headlines ignore important nuance. Data centers use water and electricity, but the water footprint is tiny compared to agriculture or golf courses. The real challenge is the energy mix and siting. If you want a livable planet and functioning AI systems, the practical conversation becomes where and how we build renewable infrastructure.

10. Education falls behind, but individuals accelerate

Schools still do not know what to do with AI, but students already use it daily. The gap between policy and reality widens. The people who win next year will not wait for permission. They will teach themselves by building projects, collaborating online, and treating AI fluency as a lifelong skill, not a semester course.

The winners will treat AI and their own work like a gym membership: small reps, every week, for years.

So, should we all be afraid of the future of AI?

I’m not. I’m tired some days, overwhelmed others. I relate to Nate saying his brain feels like it’s “smoking at the ears.” But I also keep coming back to his original point: the future is probably not as scary as you think. It just asks more of us than we want to give.

My takeaway for 2026 is simple: don’t outsource your understanding. You don’t have to become an engineer, but you do have to become fluent enough to make good calls. The people who thrive next year won’t be the ones who chase every shiny tool. They’ll be the ones who build a few smart systems, develop taste, and stay curious.

If you want the episode recap and the full list of links and tools we mentioned, reply “energy” and I’ll send it your way. And if one of these shifts made you pause, hit reply and tell me which one. I read every note.

Other headlines to check out:

AI

• Bernie Sanders criticizes AI as ‘the most consequential technology in humanity’

• More than 20% of videos shown to new YouTube users are ‘AI slop’, study find

• Humanity May Reach Singularity Within Just 4 Years, Trend Shows

• Experts warn AI is making your brain work less

• Nvidia buying AI chip startup Groq's assets for about $20 billion in its largest deal on record

• 40 of our most helpful AI tips from 2025

Creator Economy

• In Graphic Detail: Here’s what the creator economy is expected to look like in 2026

• These 13 creator economy startups pulled in about $2 billion in funding this year

• AMFM Technologies unveils Bold Mini device and ownership platform as Jacksonville pushes into creator economy

• Creator Economy Takes Center Stage At February 2026 Industry Gatherings

• UK's Hero Brands growing via 'creator economy'

Web3 

• MEET48’s 2026 Roadshow Successfully Held in Seoul, Unveiling Multiple Products to Lead the Global AI + Web3 Entertainment Industry

• European Council expands digital euro scope to business payments and Web3

• The ugly memes driving crypto sales

• Crypto market predictions for 2026: Coinbase Institutional highlights the next big things

• North Korea stole a record amount of crypto—again: report estimates its hackers’ 2025 haul at $2 billion

Remember, I'm Bullish on you! With gratitude and Happy Holidays!