What are the biggest AI trends for 2026?

What happens when AI stops answering questions and starts taking action? In this episode, I sit down with Peter Lee, President of Microsoft Research, to unpack what actually has to be true for AI to become a real coworker, not just a chatbot. This conversation is grounded in Microsoft’s latest roadmap, What’s next in AI: 7 trends to watch in 2026, which lays out how AI is shifting from tools we use to systems that act inside real workflows. We talk about: Why AI that helps teams cannot live in a chat window How multi-agent systems create trust through disagreement What AI orchestration really means How AI could shrink global health gaps Why AI is becoming part of the scientific method itself What developers need to know as AI starts understanding code in context, not snippets Why the next leap in computing is closer than most people think 📄 Referenced article: What’s Next in AI: 7 Trends to Watch in 2026 https://news.microsoft.com/source/features/ai/whats-next-in-ai-7-trends-to-watch-in-2026/ 👤 Guest: Peter Lee, President, Microsoft Research https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterlee4/