As industrial AI moves from hype to infrastructure, five trends are emerging that will define real operational impact in 2026, revealing why success will depend on process redesign, domain-specific intelligence, and frontline trust. Giedre Rajunce, CEO and co-founder of AI-powered intelligence platform GREI argues that: agentic AI systems will replace dashboards with action; physical AI and industrial robotics will move to orchestration; domain-specific AI models overtake generic generative AI; multimodal AI will unlock real-time operational intelligence; and predictive maintenance and frontline usability will become decisive. "AI will stop behaving like a side project and started behaving as infrastructure," he says. "But the uncomfortable truth is that most organisations are still applying AI to broken processes. In 2026, success will come from redesigning operations first, then using AI as a force multiplier.”