The pace of change across technology shows no signs of slowing. Over the past year, artificial intelligence has moved from experimentation to everyday reality, reshaping how organisations build software, secure systems, and upskill their people. As we look ahead to 2026, the conversation is shifting again, from rapid adoption to trust, governance and long-term value.
At Liberty IT, we’re actively exploring what this means for engineering teams, businesses and the people working alongside increasingly intelligent systems.
To unpack the trends shaping the year ahead, we spoke with Laura, Senior Solution Architect at Liberty IT, to get her perspective on what 2026 is likely to bring and what organisations should be preparing for now.
AI Everywhere - And Here To Stay
Laura, looking back on 2025, what stood out most in terms of technology trends?
Artificial intelligence was everywhere last year, with increasingly impressive large language models from multiple companies being pushed out every couple of weeks. The lasting effect is that AI is not going away, and it will be part of all our lives, directly as a software community and indirectly in many aspects of everyone’s lifestyle, from semi-autonomous cars to the humble electronic toothbrush.
What’s changed is not just how much AI is being used, but how embedded it’s becoming across industries, workflows and products.
Truth, Verification & Trust In AI Systems
As AI adoption accelerates, what new challenges are organisations facing?
As AI became more accessible, it also introduced new responsibilities. We’re seeing much greater attention on trust, safety and governance. And rightly so. AI systems are influencing more decisions, more workflows and more outcomes than ever before.
That means organisations have to deliberate about how they deploy these tools. It’s no longer enough to ask ‘Can we build this?’; we need to ask ‘Should we?’, ‘How do we validate it?’ and ‘How do we make sure it behaves as intended?’
Looking ahead to 2026, what themes do you expect to become more important?
One of the biggest shifts I expect to see is a stronger focus on truth grounding and evaluation. As AI systems become more autonomous, their outputs must be grounded in verifiable, real-world data and context. Truth grounding helps reduce hallucinations and makes AI outputs more reliable.
That feeds directly into evaluations, which systematically assess how well an AI system is performing its intended task. Accuracy, consistency and bias all need to be measured, not just assumed.
Agentic AI - With Guardrails
There’s a lot of discussion about agentic AI. How do you see that evolving in 2026?
Agentic AI is still maturing, but the dial is definitely moving. In 2026, I expect to see agentic systems emerging in tightly controlled environments, where they can automate complex workflows under strong governance and risk controls.
The key will be restraint as success will depend on clear intent, defined boundaries and robust oversight. Humans won’t disappear from the loop, but some roles will shift toward supervision, guidance and intervention when things don’t behave as expected.
2026 Tech Skills Needed
What does all of this mean for skills and learning?
AI productivity tools have already changed how we work day to day. Coding assistants, documentation tools and copilots are proving their value by accelerating routine tasks. But they also raise the bar for human skills.
Verification, critical thinking and domain understanding are becoming even more important. People need to know how to challenge AI outputs, not just accept them. That means organisations must invest in upskilling, not just in how to use AI tools, but in how to work responsibly alongside them.
Balancing Innovation, Governance And Sustainability
Beyond AI, are there other trends organisations should be thinking about?
Yes. Sustainability and efficiency are becoming inseparable from technology decisions. Large AI models are costly, both financially and environmentally. That’s driving more focus on energy efficiency, greener infrastructure and smarter cloud strategies. We’ll also see increased scrutiny around data centres, energy consumption and the environmental footprint of IT. Innovation needs to align with long-term responsibility.
Looking Ahead
With 2026 already here, our message is clear: the future of technology isn’t just about more AI, it’s about better AI. Systems that are trusted, governed, evaluated and built with people firmly at the centre.
If you’re interested in shaping the future of technology alongside teams that value curiosity, learning and trust, explore careers at Liberty IT to find out how you can be part of what’s next.
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