In 2025, a record $61 billion flowed into the market for data centers that power artificial intelligence. Waymo expanded its driverless taxi service to five cities. AI fueled scientific breakthroughs in areas from weather forecasting to health care.
AI experts predict even greater impacts this year. The number of data centers is expected to grow, fueling more applications that will increasingly play roles in most people’s daily lives. That could lead to higher electricity prices, and spur conversations about whether the technology is changing society for the better.
“I think 2026 will be defining, in the sense AI is no longer just something exciting, but we have to grapple with how it’s affecting our daily life and energy demands,” says Anjana Susarla, a researcher at Michigan State University.
Why We Wrote This
Artificial intelligence is steadily becoming a greater part of people’s daily lives, and that trend is expected to continue in 2026 – bringing with it scrutiny of the technology’s effects on society.
Here’s a look at what experts say are major ways AI could change people’s daily lives this year.
Agentic AI set to expand
An AI agent is a machine learning model that can pursue a goal and complete tasks in place of a person. It can make decisions on its own, and adapt based on the goal it’s been given. For example, you could use an AI tool to monitor prices and book a flight on your behalf according to parameters you assigned it.
These tools started to come into play in 2025 as companies began to unveil “agentic browsers,” which allow AI to interact with websites on behalf of someone. In July, retail chain Walmart rolled out four AI agents, one of which helps customers find items in the company’s app. On the music platform Spotify, users can opt to use AI to create personalized playlists.
“We are not talking about OpenAI building some cutting-edge AI tool,” says Ms. Susarla. “We’re talking about retailers that all of us are familiar with.”
As these models become more advanced – and less prone to making mistakes – experts predict they could become an essential part of more and more businesses, changing companies’ workflows and consumers’ experiences. In a 2025 survey by McKinsey & Co., 62% of respondents said their organizations were already at least experimenting with AI agents.
Martin Hilbert, a professor at the University of California, Davis, who researches questions of AI and ethics, predicts workplaces in particular could experience restructuring as they adopt agentic AI. For one thing, AI agents could free up workers’ time by taking over everyday tasks such as checking emails.
Riley Robinson/Staff/File
AI can “automate many of these really repetitive, boring tasks that fill the daily schedule of many workers,” he says.
Dr. Hilbert also mentions that a proliferation of AI use in the workplace could mean that those who master this technology get a serious leg up among their co-workers – or even push them out.
“Some people who use AI effectively can replace other tasks from other people that don’t,” he says. “We can expect a reorganization happening among professionals.”
Data centers keep growing
Data centers that produce the computing power to run AI can use as much electricity as a small city. They’re multiplying rapidly – the number in the U.S. roughly doubled between 2021 and 2024. The International Energy Agency, an intergovernmental organization that works to secure sustainable energy, estimates about 4% of the electricity consumed nationally in 2024 was used by data centers.
This growth has spurred rising energy costs across the country, particularly in areas such as Maryland and Ohio, where data centers are highly concentrated. One study from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh estimates data centers and cryptocurrency mining could cause an 8% increase in the average U.S. electricity bill by 2030. The high demand, the study found, forces some energy generators in certain markets to buy electricity from more expensive sources, including coal-fired plants.
The spread of these data centers has started to attract bipartisan attention from elected officials. Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, recently called for a moratorium on all new AI centers, citing concerns about AI taking people’s jobs. Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis unveiled an AI Bill of Rights last month that would protect communities’ rights to push back against new data center construction.
“Energy impacts of AI are coming front and center,” says Ms. Susarla.
Google recently unveiled plans to try to build new AI data centers in outer space, in part to help mitigate the cost of energy because the centers could run on solar power. That idea is gaining traction among leaders of AI companies. But in the short term, these costs are expected to mount as large tech companies invest hundreds of billions of dollars into the construction of new data centers on Earth.
AI-generated videos could affect trust
Experts predict the growth of a phenomenon that’s become known as “AI slop”: low-quality, AI-generated content aimed at getting attention. This can include AI-generated videos, photos, songs, or articles that some people might assume are real.
A Guardian analysis from last summer found that 1 in 10 of the fastest-growing YouTube channels globally shows only AI-generated content. The content is so prevalent, it has spurred concerns that people will have a harder time determining what is produced by a human and what is not – and whether what they’re seeing is real.
“If you go on any social media content, a lot of what you’re going to see is AI,” says Nir Eisikovits, director of the Applied Ethics Center at University of Massachusetts Boston. He predicts the blended content could lead to a “breakdown of trust and information.”
Another concern is that this artificial content will crowd out real artists, writers, and content creators who are trying to make money. The issue is further complicated by an executive order from the Trump administration seeking to block state laws regarding AI, an order Mr. Eisikovits calls a “shipwreck” for AI regulation. The order is expected to be challenged in courts in the coming year.
Ms. Susarla says the trend could lead to more conversations about how original content is valued and whether social media should have more guardrails defining who can publish what kinds of content.
“With all this proliferation, are we losing something?” she asks. “What happens to consumer trust and safety?”
