Data & AI Trends for 2026

Professor Alex “Sandy” Pentland is a leading computational scientist, co-founder of the MIT Media Lab and Media Lab Asia, and a HAI Fellow at Stanford. Recognized by Forbes as one of the world’s most powerful data scientists, he played a key role in shaping the GDPR through the World Economic Forum and contributed to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals as one of the Secretary General’s “Data Revolutionaries.” His accolades include MIT’s Toshiba Chair, election to the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, the Harvard Business Review McKinsey Award, and the DARPA 40th Anniversary of the Internet Award. Pentland has served on advisory boards for organizations such as the UN Secretary General, UN Foundation, Consumers Union, and formerly for the OECD, Google, AT&T, and Nissan. Companies originating from his lab have driven major innovations, including India’s Aadhaar digital identity system, Alibaba’s news and advertising arm, and the world’s largest rural health service network.

His more recent ventures span mental health (Ginger.io), AI interaction management (Cogito), delivery optimization (Wise Systems), financial privacy (Akoya), and fairness in social services (Prosperia). A mentor to over 80 PhD students—many now leading in academia, research, or entrepreneurship—Pentland helped pioneer fields such as computational social science, wearable computing, and modern biometrics. His books include Social Physics, Honest Signals, Building the New Economy, and Trusted Data.

Andreas Horn leads IBM’s AIOps service portfolio for EMEA, driving AI-powered transformation across enterprises. He specializes in strategic AI deployment for IT Operations, ensuring businesses leverage AI to enhance resilience, efficiency and innovation in this new era of AI. Beyond IBM, Andreas is a university lecturer, educating the next generation on practical AI applications that boost productivity and streamline workflows. His mission: turn AI from hype into real-world impact.

Piyanka is a leading authority in data, AI, and analytics. With over two decades of experience, dual master's degrees, and a previous role as PayPal North America's Head of Business Analytics, she's a distinguished author and speaker. Her BADIR framework empowers individuals to transform data into decisions, showcased in her books, "Behind Every Good Decision" and "Acing Your Analytics Career Transition," highlighting her prowess in data-driven decision-making.