The "Untapped Edge" of 2026
Why your AI strategy is stalling. Three trends to fix it.
“We are building race cars before we invented seatbelts. The shift from ‘chatting’ with AI to ‘hiring’ AI agents is happening now. Most of us aren’t ready.” — Nadina D. Lisbon
Hello Sip Savants! 👋🏾
The ink is barely dry on Deloitte’s State of AI in the Enterprise 2026 report. The verdict is in. We have successfully democratized access. However, we are failing at activation. While 60% of workers now have sanctioned AI tools [1], a massive “pilot-to-production” gap remains. We are stuck in a cycle of “paving the cow path.” We use advanced tech to speed up old, broken processes. The report signals a violent shift for 2026. We are moving away from passive chatbots on screens. We are moving toward active Agents, Robots, and Sovereign systems that do the work for us. The question isn’t “Can you use AI?” anymore. It is “Can you manage a machine workforce?”
3 Tech Bites
🤖 The Agentic Explosion
Passive chatbots are out. Active agents are in. A staggering 74% of companies plan to deploy autonomous agents within two years. The critical risk? Only 21% have mature governance to control them [1]. We are about to hand the keys to drivers we haven’t tested.
🏭 AI Gets Physical
Intelligence is leaving the laptop. 58% of companies are already using “Physical AI” like robotics, sensors, and smart warehouses. Adoption is expected to hit 80% by 2028 [1]. The line between your digital software and your physical factory floor is evaporating.
🌍 The “Sovereign” Check
Borders are back in tech. 83% of leaders now view “Sovereign AI” as strategic [1]. These are systems that keep data and models within specific national borders. In a fragmented world, where your AI lives is now just as important as what it does.
5-Minute Strategy
🧠 The “Agent-Readiness” Audit
The report warns that we are trying to drop autonomous agents into workflows designed for humans. Agents fail when processes are vague. To prepare for the “Agentic Shift,” you must move from instructions to outcomes.
Select one repetitive workflow you want to hand off to an AI agent. Audit it against these three “Agent-Ready” criteria:
The “Subjectivity” Trap
Circle every step that requires “gut feeling” or “context.” (e.g., “Draft a polite email”).
Action: Define “polite” with specific data rules (e.g., “Use these 3 specific closing phrases”).
The Access Check
Does the agent have API access to the tools needed? (e.g., Can it actually click ‘send’ in the CRM, or just write the text?).
Action: List the specific APIs required.
The “Human-on-the-Loop” Gate
Where does the human step in? Not to do the work, but to approve it.
Action: define the single “Pass/Fail” metric the human reviews before release.
If you can't define these, you aren't ready for agents. You are just ready for a better chatbot.
1 Big Idea
💡 The “Reimagination” Gap
We are living through a productivity paradox. According to Deloitte, 66% of companies are seeing productivity gains. Yet, only 34% are using AI to deeply transform their business [1].
This is the “Reimagination Gap.” Most of us use AI to make the horse-drawn carriage faster. That is efficiency. We need to invent the airplane. That is transformation. The report highlights a sobering statistic. 84% of organizations have not redesigned jobs to fit AI capabilities [1]. We are simply adding AI on top of existing, exhausted human workloads.
The “cutting edge” for 2026 isn’t about buying a better model. It is about workforce architecture. The winners won’t be the companies with the most GPUs. They will be the ones who dismantle their “job descriptions” and rebuild them as “outcome maps.”
These leaders are shifting models. They are moving from “Human-in-the-Loop” (where humans constantly fix AI output) to “Human-at-the-Helm.” Here, humans set the strategy and governance (the “seatbelts”). The AI agents then execute the tactical maneuvers autonomously.
Real transformation requires the courage to subtract. It requires asking a hard question: “If an agent can do steps A, B, and C, do we even need a human manager for that process?” Perhaps that human should move to an entirely new strategic role. Until we answer that, we are just paying for expensive pilots that never leave the runway.
P.S. Are you “paving the cow path” or building a highway? Reply with “COW” or “HIGHWAY” to let me know where your team stands! 👋
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Cheers,
Nadina
Host of TechSips with Nadina | Chief Strategy Architect ☕️🍵