What's next with Artificial Intelligence?

It feels like AI has been the big thing ever since OpenAI dropped ChatGPT into the world and suddenly everyone - from students to FTSE 100 executives - was talking about it. Just a few years ago, people were betting on Web3 as the next big revolution. But while Web3 was cooling off, AI took the spotlight. Today, it’s shaping industries, economies, and even politics. The obvious question is:

What comes next?

The Race Towards AGI

Right now, the ultimate goal in AI research is Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) - a system that can think, learn, and adapt like a human. Unlike the AI models we use today, which are great at specific tasks and to reason with them, AGI would be able to apply intelligence across domains and without human supervision or inputs to prompt it. Think creating new drugs, automating supply chains across multiple industries, basically any heavy cognitive tasks that can’t be done by someone entering a prompt into a chat box.

Experts debate the timeline, but many predict AGI could arrive sometime between the 2030s and 2060s. Some tech leaders are betting it may be much sooner. If that sounds far away, remember: just five years ago, generative AI wasn’t even mainstream!

The potential is staggering. I firmly believe AGI could help us with a lot of problems in the world that us humans cannot comprehend to do ourselves, like figuring out how to cure diseases, accelerate the transition to clean energy, or develop new forms of education and governance. It could be like adding billions of new “digital workers” with superhuman reasoning skills. But it also raises existential questions. How do we make sure such intelligence is aligned with human values? What if it starts solving problems in ways we didn’t anticipate.. or want?

AI Safety

AI safety is something I talk quite passionately about when talking about AI to others, colleagues, friends or even my parents (who only just discovered that by double tapping the side button on their iPhone that they could open their Apple wallet directly!!).

AI is moving fast, but history tells us innovation needs safety rails. Cars revolutionised travel, but they also caused crashes - until we built seatbelts, traffic laws, and speed limits. Artificial Intelligence will need its version of that.

Governments are beginning to act. The EU AI Act (to be enforced fully by 2026) bans harmful uses such as mass surveillance and social scoring, while imposing strict oversight on “high-risk” AI in areas like healthcare, finance, and infrastructure (EU Commission) you can also check out the official website they made for this act here. In the US, new executive orders in 2025 placed emphasis on AI education for young people and reskilling for workers, alongside investments in safe innovation.

Internationally, momentum is building. In 2023, 28 nations signed the Bletchley Declaration, acknowledging that frontier AI could cause “serious, even catastrophic” harm if misused or misaligned (UK Government). Industry leaders themselves have issued stark warnings - hundreds of scientists and CEOs signed statements equating AI risks with pandemics and nuclear war. This doesn’t mean we should panic though, think of it as a wake-up call. As Bill Gates put it, when cars first appeared, we didn’t ban them - we built rules of the road. That’s the phase AI is entering now.

Someone that I recommend watching is Geoffrey Hinton, a British-Canadian computer scientist and psychologist who is regarded as The Godfather of Artificial Intelligence. He and a few others were the very first to think about how we could potentially have smarter machines that could out way the intelligence of a normal human. Take a look at a recent podcast he did with Steven Bartlett. In this podcast, he talks about how dangourous AI could be in the future and how we can stop it from happening.

Industry Shifts on the Horizon

So what will AI actually do in the next few years? Here’s where we’re likely to see the biggest shifts:

Healthcare: AI is already powering hundreds of approved devices, from diagnostic scanners to monitoring apps. Analysts project it could cut US healthcare costs by $360 billion a year while enabling personalised medicine and faster drug discovery (McKinsey). Imagine a GP augmented by an AI that can instantly analyse thousands of medical studies, or new drugs developed in months instead of a decade. This is one of the most promising areas where AI could directly save lives.
Finance and Mortgages: In finance, AI is transforming fraud detection, credit scoring, and customer service. I work in the Mortgage industry currently, and the amount of financial systems I’ve seen with AI capabilities is astounding. But in my personal opinion, this is a sector where it requires a lot of observability and monitoring as can we really rely on AI/AGI for our economy? The answer I have right now is that i don’t know.
Manufacturing and Industry: Global investment in AI-driven manufacturing is projected to grow over 45% annually through 2028. Expect supply chains that can reroute themselves around disruption, and production lines that optimise in real time. The result: higher productivity, lower waste, and potentially more sustainable industry.
Politics and Society: AI will increasingly shape political life. Campaigns will use it for targeted messaging, while voters will have to navigate deepfakes and misinformation. One Nature report warned that AI-generated content could sway elections or even destabilise markets. Democracies are scrambling to set rules - for example, requiring watermarks on political ads or rapid response teams to debunk fake media. Beyond elections, governments see AI as a strategic asset: China, the EU, the US, and Gulf nations are pouring billions into AI chips, research, and applications.
Consumer Life: For individuals, AI will keep blending into everyday life. Smarter personal assistants that manage your diary, book your holidays, or tutor your children. Generative AI will make content creation effortless, from music and games to bespoke films. Autonomous vehicles will become more mainstream (see the 2025 AI Index Report by Stanford HAI). All of this points towards a world where AI is as invisible and indispensable, as electricity.
The Economy and Jobs: Studies suggest 60-70% of work activities in today’s jobs could be automated by existing AI (McKinsey). That sounds dramatic, but it doesn’t mean we’ll see mass unemployment overnight. History shows automation often shifts work rather than eliminates it. Many firms say they plan to augment workers with AI, not replace them. New roles will emerge - from AI trainers and ethicists to entirely new industries we can’t yet imagine. But transitions won’t be painless, and governments will need to adapt education and welfare systems to keep up.
Military - Well, let’s not think about that right now…

Balancing Optimism and Caution

So, should we be excited or worried? The honest answer is both. AI in 2026 and beyond could deliver breakthroughs in medicine, sustainability, and quality of life. But the same systems could also spread disinformation, concentrate power, or - if left unchecked - create risks we’re not prepared for.

The good news is we still have time to shape this future. Regulations are being drafted, researchers are prioritising safety, and more people than ever are aware of the stakes. The challenge is making sure AI’s benefits are shared widely and its risks are properly managed.

In short, AGI won’t just be the “next big thing” - it may well be the defining technology of this century. And like every transformative technology before it, its impact will depend less on the machines themselves, and more on the choices we make about how to use them.