In 2023, I outlined the trajectory of the Fifth Industrial Revolution, beginning in 2024 with its Familiarization and Experimentation phase, focusing on understanding AI’s potential to redefine industries, work, and society. By 2025, the revolution entered the Productivity and Innovation phase. Rapid AI deployment exposed vulnerabilities: insufficient testing, flawed design, and fragmented user experiences. A global recalibration is now essential.

2026 marks the rise of Phase 3: Risk Management and Human-Centered Integration.

Early adopters will refine systems, emphasizing responsible deployment and a balanced partnership between automation and human judgment. Training, ethical governance, and process optimization will become central as organizations realize that lasting innovation requires both technological excellence and human insight.

The next industrial revolution doesn’t replace humans – It amplifies them when technology and judgment are aligned.

Over the year, systems will evolve to learn not only from data but from human intent and behavior. Robotics and automation will move from experimentation to structured integration, enabling intelligent collaboration between people and machines. By 2027, the next industrial era of the 6th Industrial Revolution will fuse human insight with intelligent systems. Yet before that dawn, 2026 is the moment to act with foresight and responsibility.

Ethical AI governance, transparency, and international cooperation must shift from aspiration to practice. Choices about design, deployment, and oversight will determine whether technology enhances humanity or undermines it.

About the Author

Deborah Collier is an influential strategic & ‘Futurist Leader’ with 30-years’ experience working across digital, technology, marketing and business. A digital, media and technology entrepreneur, described as a ‘global economic force’ as founder and president of industry’s global awarding body Digital Skills Authority. She is also a media CEO, and former non-executive director.

Listen to Future Dawned Podcast
5th Industrial Revolution – Agentic AI Episode

Subscribe to NEW YouTube Channel
Subscribe to Futurist Leader (Deborah’s channel)