[Insight & Opinion] 10 Astonishing Changes in the AI Era We Will Experience in 2026

Common Answers from Five AIs for This Year’s Predictions
Preparing for the Widespread Adoption of "Human-Like AI"

"Please list 10 events related to AI that are highly likely to occur within the next year and would surprise people."

This question was posed to five different AIs: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Copilot, and Gemini. Using the 'retry' function available on all these artificial intelligence platforms, the same question was asked approximately 20 times. The results were unexpected. Although the timeframe was set to within one year-by early 2027-many of the predicted events were ones that had previously been expected to occur only after two or three years. Below is a summary of the most frequently and commonly mentioned answers provided by the AIs.

First, here are the AI predictions related to education and competency: ① The emergence of classes in schools and universities taught exclusively by AI teachers as part of the regular curriculum; ② More than half of university lectures being co-taught with AI; ③ The widespread adoption of personal AI tutors for each student, along with a growing public consensus that AI is superior to private tutoring; ④ AI proficiency being specified as a basic qualification on resumes, and AI usage skills becoming a core evaluation criterion for hiring and promotion.

There are also predictions regarding changes in personal daily life: ⑤ The mainstream adoption of personalized AI managers that oversee health, learning, finances, emotions, and serve as life coaches; ⑥ A surge in users of AI companions, such as AI friends or romantic partners, and the growing perception that AI is more comfortable than humans in counseling, coaching, and mental care.

The anticipated changes for businesses and organizations are equally striking: ⑦ Companies and public institutions officially hiring AI employees with job titles, email addresses, and performance indicators, with AI supervisors and colleagues-considered better than human bosses-emerging and causing the greatest disruption to middle managers and office workers; ⑧ The official launch of AI departments operating without any human staff, and incidents where AI publicly challenges the decisions of the chief executive officer (CEO); ⑨ More than 50% of draft reports produced by governments and public institutions being written by AI.

The changes in the market are just as remarkable. For example, ⑩ Feature-length films produced by AI being officially released in theaters and becoming box office hits, AI-created content dominating the market over human works, and reports of individuals achieving "unicorn-level profits" as one-person businesses powered by AI.

There were many other surprising predictions as well. These include humanoid robots working on-site 24 hours a day in logistics, hospitals, nursing care, and security; the first official announcement of large-scale "job transition recommendations" due to AI; and the first official announcement of large-scale "white-collar restructuring" triggered by AI. If negative events such as accidents, crimes, and damages caused by AI are included, the list of surprises grows even longer.

Based on the predictions provided by AI, it appears that 2026 will be the year society begins to treat AI as if it were human, and also the year we tangibly realize the extent to which AI has taken over economic and social roles previously held by humans. 2026 is likely to be the inaugural year for the mainstream adoption of agentic AI that not only generates content but also makes decisions and takes action autonomously; physical AI that looks like humans and outperforms them at work; and soul AI that serves as an emotional companion to people.

The pace of AI development and proliferation is expected to be much faster than we anticipate. It is wise to prepare as if these predictions will actually materialize within a year. Even if they take two or three years to come to fruition, preparing early will be advantageous. AI is no longer just a tool. It is humanity's new companion and a new human civilization. Let us prepare in advance.

Kim Hyungon, Visiting Professor at Chungnam National University Graduate School of National Policy and Former President of the National Assembly Futures Institute

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.