6 expert predictions: AI and the future of work in 2026

Across industries, leaders are converging on a clear message. The message is that simply layering AI onto existing ways of working is no longer enough. As AI takes on routine tasks and coordination, human contribution must shift towards judgement, creativity, oversight and ‘meaning-making’. At the same time, workers, particularly younger generations, are redefining careers as fluid, multi-dimensional and increasingly self-directed.

Six leaders at the forefront of the future of work share their predictions for how AI, skills and workplace expectations will reshape organisations in 2026. From the rise of AI agents managing workflows to the evolution of productivity, learning and careers, their insights reveal how work is set to change and what businesses must do to adapt.

Maxime Sebti, CEO of Score:

“Generative AI now automates routine work (writing, summarising, analysing) but job performance is still measured by outputs that machines can replicate. Most organisations are tidying workflows without redefining what human work is for, and what makes it valuable. 

“By 2026, analysts expect up to 40% of enterprise apps will include task-specific AI agents.  This is a clear move from AI as a supportive tool to AI as a coordinator.

“I predict this trend will accelerate especially as the price of AI drops, as per Sam Altman’s estimates. By the end of this decade, AI systems will manage workflows end-to-end acting as digital bosses that allocate work and evaluate results.

“We’ll move from working with AI to being managed by it. The risk isn’t just replacement, it’s a growing feeling of irrelevance. If organisations don’t reframe roles around human judgement and interpretation, we’ll see more disengagement in our younger workforce.”

Dr Mark Hoffman, Head of AI Insights at Asana Work Innovation Lab:

“Today, organizations burn a lot of meeting time in the minutia: just getting attendees caught up, recapping last week’s actions, chasing the latest numbers, or debating what’s in scope. Much of that work is spread across email, slides, and chat, which is exactly the kind of manual coordination overhead that workers want AI to reduce. Combine this with the fact workers are spending more time than ever before in ‘useless’ meetings, teams are ready for a meeting switch-up. 

“Leaders must evaluate whether AI agents can be part of this shake up in 2026, expanding their existing ability to join calls, capture transcripts, and summarise discussions. With the right guidelines, we’ll start to see AI agents prepping before the meeting starts, playing the part of pre-meeting analysts – pulling together actions, relevant documents, and unresolved questions into a single brief. When they work well, meetings start with, “Given what we already know, what should we decide?”. This will be a powerful change in shifting from status reporting to actual strategic dialogue.”

Tanya Channing, COO at Pipedrive:

“In 2026, the most successful workplaces will balance an autonomous workplace with AI-driven support. Expect the definition of productivity to evolve from ‘time spent’ to ‘impact delivered,’ with wellbeing and performance as strategic priorities. In our recent State of Sales and Marketing report, we found that those working mainly or fully remotely were twice as likely to be very satisfied with their work models compared to on-site employees, despite the ongoing push for RTO.

“As the debates about AI’s role in the workplace continue, the next challenge is ensuring that technology supports that freedom, finding the balance between AI and human influence will be crucial to businesses success. Our data found that 47% of current AI users have no plans to further integrate AI however teams using hybrid models and meaningful AI saw stronger recovery and performance gains, with 74% of AI adopters reporting higher productivity, and 50% improved overall performance. 

“Ultimately, it will be essential for businesses to use AI to their advantage to leverage the results needed to stay competitive. The most successful leaders will be those who understand that technology and humanity must progress together. The future of work will be defined by balance, between structure and freedom, automation and creativity, as businesses learn to harness AI as a catalyst for smarter, more human work.”

Marni Baker Stein, Chief Content Officer at Coursera:

“AI literacy is now as essential as digital literacy was a decade ago, except the transformation is happening at an unprecedented rate: while the internet took 7 years to reach 100 million global users, ChatGPT took only two months. Companies are responding in kind, intent on driving AI-related innovation to catalyse growth. But to lead in the AI skills race, it’s not just about investment in technology. A core, sustained focus on nurturing AI skills at scale is essential if the UK is to foster a workforce adequately equipped to harness technological progress. Earlier this year, our survey of tech leaders found that 88% believe that their AI transformation goals will not succeed without greater investment in talent development.

“In 2026, it won’t be enough to just double-down on AI skills and AI investment, however. There are a lot of core competencies that need to be maintained alongside AI literacy – cybersecurity, data protection, analytical thinking skills – for workers and institutions to thrive, and there are currently misalignments in the UK labour market that need to be tackled. Our platform data shows huge rises in AI-related learning, but cybersecurity lagging behind, with a 3% contraction in enrolments year-over-year. Ignoring such critical skills areas could create vulnerability gaps within organisations, particularly as advances in AI create an increasingly complex threat landscape.

“The real challenge is that skills that are fresh today will be outdated in the next five years. This is why we need to encourage continuous learning processes – carried through initial education all the way through to career development. This is why it will be important in 2026 for both the public and private sectors to champion investment in lifelong learning. Only through empowering individuals do we succeed alongside emerging tech.”

Ben Kus, CTO at Box:

“I believe we’re entering a future where agents become a core part of how work gets done. Rather than replacing roles, agents will extend people’s capabilities. Developers already do this today: they spin up small specialized agents to handle subtasks, then review and integrate the results. That pattern will spread across organizations.

“Workers will delegate routine and repetitive tasks to these agents and focus on higher‑value activities – design, oversight, and decision‑making. In practice, almost everyone will take on a managerial role: not just people managers, but managers of agents. Teams will coordinate, supervise, and continuously refine the agents they deploy to deliver outcomes.

“This shift will raise the importance of skills like agent orchestration, quality assurance, and governance. The organizations that learn to manage fleets of agents effectively will gain a huge productivity advantage. At Box, we see this as an opportunity to build tools that make agent management safe, reliable, and easy to scale across the enterprise.”

Sharon Steiner, CHRO & Chief Freelance Officer at Fiverr:

“2026 will be the year the four-screen career model becomes mainstream – a new way of working shaped by Gen Z, AI, and the global freelancing boom. Instead of following a traditional linear path, the next generation of workers are building multidimensional careers across four different ‘screens’:their current income and role, upskilling and learning opportunities, side projects and passions, and community and volunteer work.

“With over 1.5 billion people freelancing worldwide, it’s clear that workers are choosing fluid career paths that allow them to grow their skills across multiple sectors. AI is accelerating this transformation by removing repetitive tasks, making learning more accessible and enabling individuals to turn ideas into projects faster. As a result, building multiple income streams, experimenting with different identities and pursuing impact-driven work is becoming the norm rather than the exception. 

“In 2026, the next generation will use the four screen model to view their careers as their own unique design instead of a fixed ladder to climb. Understanding how this flexible approach is quickly replacing the traditional career ladder will help HR teams determine the needs of their teams, what is important to them, and retain talent.”

“Ultimately, the future of work will not be defined by AI alone, but by the choices organisations make about how it is used. The impact of AI on engagement and performance will largely depend on whether businesses can strike an effective balance between structure, automation, innovation and human judgement.

“As these six experts can agree, the organisations that will thrive in 2026 will be those that invest as much in people as they do in technology. By building AI literacy alongside core skills like cybersecurity and analytical thinking, empowering workers to manage and govern AI agents, and supporting continuous learning and skills development, leaders can support their employees through this world of rapid innovation.”