Werner Vogels' Tech Predictions for 2026 and Beyond

For much of the world, technology has become so interwoven in our lives that it now influences our relationships, the care we seek, how we work, what we do to protect ourselves, and even the things we choose to learn. For some, this may read as the start of a dystopian nightmare, yet we are on the verge of something fundamentally different. We’ve caught glimpses of a future that values autonomy, empathy, and individual expertise. In the coming year, we will begin the transition into a new era of AI in the human loop, not the other way around. This cycle will create massive opportunities to solve problems that truly matter. And it starts by addressing one of the unintended consequences of our hyperconnected world—loneliness and a lack of companionship—by turning the very force that created the problem into the solution.

Join Amazon CTO Werner Vogels as he reveals five transformative predictions that will reshape how we live and work. From AI-powered personalized learning, to quantum-safe security and, yes, even robot companions, these tech predictions will help you plan for what's next.

• Companion robots will help address the loneliness epidemic
   
• Professional developers will soon become renaissance developers
   
• Quantum safe will become the only safe
   
• Defense tech innovations will transition to civilian applications much faster
   
• Personalized learning will reshape classroom culture
   

► Download the ebook: Werner Vogels' Tech Predictions for 2026 and Beyond

► Read more on Werner’s All Things Distributed blog

Dr. Werner Vogels, VP & CTO at Amazon.com

Dr. Werner Vogels is Chief Technology Officer at Amazon.com where he is responsible for driving the company’s customer-centric technology vision. As one of the forces behind Amazon’s approach to cloud computing, he is passionate about helping young businesses reach global scale, and transforming enterprises into fast-moving digital organizations. Vogels joined Amazon in 2004 from Cornell University where he was a distributed systems researcher. He has held technology leadership positions in companies that handle the transition of academic technology into industry. Vogels holds a PhD from the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam and has authored many articles on distributed systems technologies for enterprise computing.

Read his tech predictions from 2025