<p>Is 2026 the year that AI hype meets reality? In a new mini-series from Tech Tonic, the FT’s tech editor Murad Ahmed speaks with the paper’s reporters about what&nbsp;they'll be watching.</p><br><p>Do tech&nbsp;industry insiders&nbsp;think&nbsp;the&nbsp;huge&nbsp;amounts of capital that have driven the AI boom will continue? How will challenges&nbsp;to large-language&nbsp;model AI systems play out this year? And are chief executives expecting AI technologies to force job cuts?</p><br><p>In this episode, we hear from the FT’s venture capital correspondent George Hammond, AI correspondent Melissa&nbsp;Heikkilä and&nbsp;writer of the AI Shift newsletter Sarah O’Connor for their views on AI’s financial faultlines, how the technology will&nbsp;evolve and&nbsp;what kind of disruptions to expect in the world of work.</p><br><p>Free to read:&nbsp;</p><br><p><a href="https://on.ft.com/49s5QTI" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic prepare to launch landmark IPOs</a></p><br><p><a href="https://on.ft.com/3Nc6e15" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Computer scientist Yann LeCun: ‘Intelligence really is about learning’</a></p><br><p><a href="https://on.ft.com/4swEnc8" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The AI Shift: Agentic AI is coming for quantitative research</a></p><br><p>Subscribe to <a href="https://www.ft.com/the-ai-shift" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The AI Shift</a> newsletter, an essential deep-dive into how artificial intelligence is reshaping the world of work</p><br><p>This series of Tech Tonic is hosted by Murad Ahmed and produced by Josh Gabert-Doyon. The senior producer for Tech Tonic is Edwin Lane. Flo Phillips is the executive producer. Sound design by Breen Turner and Samantha Giovinco. Original music by Metaphor Music. Cheryl Brumley&nbsp;is the FT’s global head of audio.&nbsp;</p><br><p>The FT does not use generative AI to voice its podcasts.</p><br><p>A previous version of this podcast made a statement about Klarna's&nbsp;use of AI that the company has disputed. The reference has since been removed.</p><br><p><a href="https://www.ft.com/content/7e7b4110-963c-4d78-9549-2d3d09f9bc19" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com</strong></a></p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>