🔒 Artificial intelligence has identified the technologies of the future, including itself.
The fourteenth edition of the WEF report on breakthrough technologies is the first to be co-authored by an algorithm. It’s also the first to treat AI not as a topic for discussion, but as a tool already built into drug discovery, vaccine design and physics modeling.
Previous editions of the report relied on an expert survey. In 2026, Frontiers, a scientific publishing organization that’s co-created the Top 10 Emerging Technologies report for years, replaced it with a tool powered by large language models. Three models (GPT-4.1 mini, GPT-5, and Gemini 2.5) ran in parallel: each generated technology proposals across eight academic fields and thirteen industry sectors, cross-checking one another’s results. From more than 1,200 candidates, human experts selected eighty, and the Advisory Board chose the final ten.
Below, we describe these ten, highlighting how AI is becoming an integral part of their development. It’s no longer just a supporting technology, but a first-class component, without which the development of the solutions presented here would be hindered and, certainly, much slower.
Share
You might be interested in
-
🔒 Builder, not student. A new path to growth with AI
You know more and more. But what can you really do? Discover a learning method that focuses on action, environment and tools, all in one.
-
🔒 A World Cup with an algorithm. Artificial intelligence takes the field
At the 2026 World Cup, artificial intelligence is no longer an add-on to the tournament and becomes its technological foundation. Advanced analytics is also no longer a privilege of the wealthiest.
-
🔒 Humans are the premium value. How not to fall for the myth of “cheap” AI
As intelligent algorithms advance, businesses face a choice: should artificial intelligence be merely a tool for cutting costs, or an opportunity to unlock human potential?
-
🔒 A calculator for minds or systemic laziness? The essence of the debate about AI in schools
While Asian schools are turning education over to algorithms en masse, we are still seeking a humanistic compromise. The skills of the entire next generation of workers depend on which model we…
