My outlook for 2026: orchestration, the human edge and the AI bubble

Welcome to Exponential View, the show where I explore how exponential technologies such as AI are reshaping our future. I've been studying AI and exponential technologies at the frontier for over ten years. Each week, I share some of my analysis or speak with an expert guest to make light of a particular topic.

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In this episode, I share my outlook for 2026 and explain why AI tools now feel genuinely different. I explore how the act of making has been transformed, why authenticity and meaning will become the new scarcity, and whether the foundations of energy and capital can hold. I also address the question I was asked most in 2025: when will the AI bubble burst?

Skip to the best bits:

00:00 Why AI feels different in 2026

01:59 The six shifts in AI 03:32 The "done list" era

06:43 From execution to orchestration

09:02 The agentic coding revolution

11:10 What's a Chief Question Officer?

13:58 Three ways value will be created

16:27 "Claude told me to use ChatGPT"

18:02 The AI usage gap

20:30 The new moat in 2026

26:10 How does solar growth affect AI?

28:53 Revisiting the bubble or boom question

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Where to find me:

Exponential View newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/

Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azhar/

Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem

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