The 2026 AI Forecast: Foundation Models, IPOs, and Robotics with Sarah Guo and Elad Gil

Pundits are screaming about the so-called “AI bubble.” But historically slow-to-adopt industries like medicine and law are actually embracing AI at an unprecedented speed. Sarah Guo and Elad Gil look ahead to 2026, breaking down the major trends that will define the next era of AI technologies. They explore the future of AI foundational models, predicting breakthroughs in solving complex scientific problems. They share competing views on the timeline for robotics and self-driving cars, debating whether startups have a chance for survival or if incumbents will dominate. Elad and Sarah also discuss the return of tech IPOs and M&As, forecast a new wave of AI consumer agent software, and explore why consumer product innovation has been slower than expected. Finally, the two offer bold non-AI predictions for the new year, including the acceleration of defense tech startups and the second-order underrated impacts of GLP-1 drugs on biohacking.

Plus, stick around to hear predictions on what’s next for AI in 2026 from some of tech’s biggest names and industry leaders. We hear from Jensen Huang (Founder/CEO NVIDIA), Arvind Jain (Founder/CEO, Glean), Winston Weinberg (Founder/CEO, Harvey), Scott Wu (Founder/CEO, Cognition), Raiza Martin (Founder/CEO Huxe), Zach Ziegler (Founder/CTO, Open Evidence), Aaron Levie (Founder/CEO, Box), Misha Laskin (Founder/CEO, ReflectionAI), Noam Brown (Research Scientist, OpenAI), Joshua Meier (Founder/CEO Chai Discovery), Bryan Johnson (Living Man, Don't Die), Sholto Douglas (Member of the Technical Staff, Anthropic), Ben & Asher Spector (Stanford PhDs) and Dylan Patel (Founder/CEO SemiAnalysis).

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Chapters:

00:00 – Introduction

02:43 – AI Predictions for 2026

04:40 – Adoption of AI in Professional Fields

07:17 – Robotics and Self-Driving Cars

08:25 – Robotics: Incumbents vs. Startups

13:59 – Future of IPOs and M&A in AI

16:42 – Challenges in Consumer AI Innovation

21:08 – Funding of Neo Labs, RL Research

26:28 – Predictions for 2026 Beyond AI

26:44 – The Future of Defense and Technology

28:23 – Biohacking and Peptide Therapies

30:37 – 2026 Prediction from AI Industry Leaders

40:46 – Conclusion