The Only Prediction That Matters in 2026 - AI Adoption
We usually open the year with a flurry of workplace trends and predictions. Not this time. There's only one prediction that matters in 2026, and yes, it involves AI. At this point, unless you're in a blue-collar job, AI adoption is the main character in your organization's future, whether you like it or not.
Note: Listeners of our podcast will recognize this as our guest John Trainor's top prediction. He would know—he's on the front line watching workplace AI transformation happen every day in real time.
AI Readiness Will Drive Talent Decisions in 2026
2026 will be the year organizations begin evaluating their workforce through one dominant lens: readiness for AI, adoption capability, and real utilization.
That means assessing, evaluating, monitoring, judging, and making hiring, firing, and layoff decisions based on a single capability: how well employees adapt to and leverage AI tools. Think about that for a second. We haven't seen a technological shift this tightly bound to talent management decisions in modern work history.
The Last Time Technology Reshaped the Workforce This Fast
The closest parallel takes us back to the late 1990s when email arrived and instantly divided offices into two camps: the people who figured it out before lunch and the people who thought it was a waste of time.
Every office had that guy. The one who asked their assistant to print out emails "because it's easier to read on paper," then dictated handwritten responses with arrows, circles, and the occasional Post-it note reading "pls respond." Entire forests died so this man could reply, "Sounds good." He would not survive 2026. He might not survive the first all-hands meeting where someone says "machine learning workflow" out loud.
Why AI Adoption Can't Wait
The reason this workplace transformation matters now is simple. AI isn't creeping into the workplace; it's hitting the gas at full throttle. Most people hadn't even heard of generative AI in November 2023. Now, every white-collar organization is staring at the same inflection point Blockbuster faced when Netflix was still shipping DVDs.
Move quickly or get very good at explaining to future historians why you missed the most obvious business transformation of your era. This is every sector, every function, every team.
What's Coming: The Employee Experience Gap in AI Implementation
Over the next few weeks, we'll explore what AI workforce readiness actually means—not theoretically, but in practical terms. How will organizations struggle with evaluating AI adoption? Why will they be perplexed that their workers aren't that jazzed about it?
In summary, it's because most organizations have never built the employee experience infrastructure required to support technological change at this scale. If people don't understand expectations, don't trust leadership, and don't feel equipped to learn new skills, there is no AI adoption strategy. There's only a press release with a robot graphic.
More next week…
Americans Hate AI. Which Party Will Benefit?
“Party insiders are divided on how to channel Americans’ growing fear of AI.”
US employers face labor-shortage headaches amid declining fertility rate, immigration crackdown
Huh?
Welcome to the Future of Noise Canceling
+SpeedStuio Podcast
Ep. 121 - Predictions with John Trainor
In the final episode of 2025 we give the people what they want. Predictions, podcast stats and the one and only John Trainor. We chat AI, technology, sports, fashion and much more. At the risk of giving any spoiler alerts, you’re just going to have to give it a listen to find out more. Happy New Year!
