The AI leap year: How 2026 will split the market into leaders and followers

ILLUSTRATION BY RUTH MACAPAGAL Most years are incremental. The calendar flips, the slogans change and the same companies stay in roughly the same positions. 2026 won’t behave like that. The year 2025 has been one of artificial intelligence (AI) curiosity—pilots, workshops, “innovation committees,” a few shiny demos and plenty of executives quietly hoping the whole