Every January some report says “this is the year AI changes everything,” and every year I roll my eyes a little. But sitting here in mid-2026, I genuinely can’t roll my eyes anymore. Browsers are agents now. Chips are shipping “physical AI” models. Robots are clocking actual factory shifts. Some of this is real progress, some of it is still marketing dressed up as a product launch — and honestly, figuring out which is which is half the fun.