My Top 10 Predictions for Agentic AI in 2026

Welcome to 2026. As we kick off the new year, it is clear that the landscape of Artificial Intelligence has shifted irrevocably. The buzzword of last year is gone; in 2026, we are moving fully into the era of Agentic AI.

Based on my research, the evolving threat landscape, and the work we are doing in AI security, here are my top 10 predictions for what the year 2026 holds for Agentic systems.

 

1. The Self-Improving Agentic AI System

2026 will be the year we move past static agents. We will see the increase of research and some real world implementation of self-improving Agentic AI systems. These systems won't just execute tasks; they will autonomously learn and improve. We will publish a survey on this topic soon. Please comment on this post to get notified when the research is published.

 

2. Agency > Intelligence

This year, the industry will stop obsessing over raw intelligence scores. Agency will eclipse intelligence as the primary metric. The ability of an AI to plan, use tools, and persist toward a goal will matter far more than the size of the model.

 

3. New Security Benchmarks via MAESTRO

Legacy benchmarks are failing to capture the risks of autonomous agents. In 2026, we will see the adoption of new Agent security benchmarks based on our MAESTRO Agentic AI threat modeling framework. For some hints, see my substack article.

 

4. Agentic AI Risk Management Takes Center Stage

Risk Management will grab a significant share of the AI governance conversation this year. Organizations will start to align with the NIST AI RMF, the Cloud Security Alliance’s AICM methodologies, and the OWASP AIVSS project to standardize how they handle Agentic risks. See my post for more details, and also this one.

 

5. The "Vibe Coding" Security Hangover

While "vibe coding" accelerates development, 2026 will reveal its dark side. Security issues will persist, and likely worsen, due to the non-deterministic nature of code generated by natural language prompts, creating new challenges for DevSecOps. I will announce our joint effort with @Chris Hughes soon on this.

 

6. The Struggle of Browser Agents

Browser Agents will face a tough road in 2026. Until we see widespread adoption of interoperability standards like AG-UI and the A2UI protocol—and address the specific contractual gaps I outlined in my recent Substack post—browser agents will continue to struggle with reliability.

 

7. Enterprise Deployment: Internal First

For the enterprise landscape in 2026, internal deployment will widen significantly. However, we will see limited B2B and B2C Agentic AI applications as companies remain cautious about exposing autonomous agents to the open web.

 

8. More CVEs for the Agentic Ecosystem

In 2026, More CVEs will be created for Agentic AI frameworks, browser/computer-using agents, and vibe coding tools, forcing vendors to treat these flaws with the same severity as traditional software vulnerabilities.

 

9. MAESTRO v2: Making It Practical

To support the industry's needs this year, we will publish MAESTRO v2. This version will focus on practical utility, providing clear instructions on how to use the framework and exactly how vendors can implement it in their environments.

 

10. The Official Release of OWASP AIVSS v1

Finally, to cap off the year and solidify our security standards, we will publish the AIVSS v1 document at aivss.owasp.org , providing the community with a definitive standard for securing AI versus AI threats.

 

2026 is set to be a pivotal year for Agentic AI. Let's make sure we build it securely