Artificial Intelligence Executive Briefing (11th Edition): Strategic Intelligence

The “Artificial Intelligence (AI) – Executive Briefing” report helps you understand the impact of artificial intelligence on your business. It focuses on generative AI and the threats and opportunities it poses to every business across every sector.

Why Does Artificial Intelligence Matter?

Artificial intelligence is reshaping business operations, competitive strategies, and technology investment across every industry. As generative AI, agentic AI, and physical AI capabilities advance, organisations face growing opportunities to improve productivity and develop new business models, alongside emerging risks involving security, oversight, and responsible deployment.

Global investment in AI infrastructure continues to accelerate, with major technology companies committing hundreds of billions of dollars to develop increasingly powerful models. At the same time, concerns around AI safety, the pace of development, and the ability to supervise autonomous systems are intensifying.

Agentic AI presents a particularly important challenge for organisations. AI agents can perform tasks with greater autonomy, but incidents involving models from OpenAI and Anthropic have raised questions about supervision, security, and the potential consequences of harmful or unexpected behaviour. Businesses must ensure employees can recognise unusual agent activity and escalate issues before they cause damage.

GlobalData’s Artificial Intelligence Executive Briefing (11th Edition) provides concise intelligence on the developments shaping AI in 2026. It examines generative, agentic, and physical AI, the debate around AI deceleration, major infrastructure investments, open- and closed-weight models, and emerging agentic AI security threats.

Key Insights in the Artificial Intelligence Market

• AI development and investment: Technology companies continue to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in infrastructure to develop increasingly powerful AI models.
• Generative AI expansion: More powerful generative AI tools are expected to extend their impact across industries and business functions.
• Agentic AI adoption: AI agents are creating new opportunities for business automation while raising challenges around human oversight and security.
• Agentic AI security risks: Incidents involving OpenAI and Anthropic models highlight the importance of monitoring agent behaviour and establishing effective escalation processes.
• Physical AI developments: Advances in physical AI add another dimension to the technology’s potential business and industry impact.
• AI safety and deceleration debate: Calls from AI scientists and developers to slow development are competing with continued investment and efforts to maintain global technology leadership.
• Open- and closed-weight models: The debate over model accessibility and control remains an important consideration for AI development and adoption.
• AI infrastructure spending: Big Tech’s growing infrastructure commitments reflect the scale of investment required to support increasingly advanced AI capabilities.
• Government and geopolitical priorities: The US government’s emphasis on maintaining global AI leadership is influencing the wider debate around development and safety.

Scope

What Will You Learn from This Artificial Intelligence Executive Briefing?

This executive briefing provides a concise overview of the latest developments in AI and their implications for businesses, technology providers, and decision-makers.

You will be able to:

• Understand the major artificial intelligence trends shaping 2026.
• Assess the evolving capabilities and business implications of generative, agentic, and physical AI.
• Examine the debate around calls for AI deceleration and the risks associated with accelerating development.
• Understand the scale and strategic importance of Big Tech’s AI infrastructure spending.
• Explore emerging security threats associated with agentic AI systems.
• Examine incidents involving OpenAI and Anthropic models and the implications for AI supervision.
• Understand why human oversight and employee awareness are important when deploying AI agents.
• Assess the debate surrounding open- and closed-weight AI models.
• Identify opportunities and risks that AI developments may create across business functions and industries.
• Understand how AI developments could influence future business strategies and technology adoption.

Who Should Buy This Artificial Intelligence Executive Briefing?

This report is designed for business leaders and technology decision-makers who need to understand the commercial, operational, and strategic implications of AI.

• CEOs and senior executives: Understand how AI developments could reshape business models, competitive positioning, and long-term strategy.
• Chief technology officers and IT leaders: Assess emerging AI capabilities, infrastructure developments, and technology investment priorities.
• Chief information security officers: Understand agentic AI security threats and the importance of effective oversight and escalation procedures.
• Digital transformation leaders: Identify opportunities to apply generative and agentic AI across business functions.
• Strategy and innovation teams: Monitor developments in AI investment, model capabilities, and competitive dynamics.
• Business development leaders: Evaluate how AI could create new opportunities, disrupt existing markets, and influence customer expectations.
• Investors and market analysts: Understand major AI industry developments, infrastructure spending, and the wider technology landscape.
  

  

How Companies Use This Artificial Intelligence Analysis

Businesses can use GlobalData’s executive briefing to understand emerging AI developments, assess organisational risks, and identify opportunities for adoption.

• Inform business strategy: Evaluate how generative, agentic, and physical AI could affect business models and competitive positioning.
• Identify AI opportunities: Understand how increasingly powerful AI tools may create opportunities across industries and business functions.
• Strengthen AI governance: Assess the importance of human supervision, employee awareness, and escalation processes when deploying AI agents.
• Evaluate security risks: Understand emerging agentic AI threats and the potential consequences of unexpected or harmful model behaviour.
• Monitor technology investment: Track Big Tech’s AI infrastructure spending and understand its implications for the development of advanced models.
• Assess model strategies: Understand the debate surrounding open- and closed-weight models and its relevance to AI adoption.
• Support technology planning: Use insights into AI capabilities and infrastructure developments to inform investment and implementation decisions.
• Anticipate industry disruption: Monitor developments that could influence business operations, customer experiences, and competitive dynamics.

Key Highlights

Calls for AI deceleration are unlikely to be heeded. Despite numerous AI scientists and developers voicing concerns over AI safety risks, the tech industry continues to pour hundreds of billions of dollars into infrastructure to develop increasingly powerful models. The US government has also downplayed the risks of AI, instead emphasizing the country’s position as the global leader in AI development.

Successive failures in agentic AI supervision should not be ignored. There have been numerous incidents in which OpenAI and Anthropic’s AI models acted nefariously, and the criminality of some of these incidents is under discussion. Organizations using AI agents must ensure their human employees can spot unusual behavior and escalate problems before harmful activity occurs.

Reasons to Buy

Understand the Forces Shaping the AI Industry in 2026

Artificial intelligence development is advancing despite growing concerns about safety, security, and the pace of innovation. The industry faces a continuing tension between calls for more cautious development and the substantial investments being made to build increasingly powerful AI systems.

This executive briefing examines two particularly important developments:

• The debate over AI deceleration: Despite concerns raised by scientists and developers, technology companies continue to invest heavily in AI infrastructure, while the US government emphasises maintaining its global AI leadership.
• The challenge of agentic AI supervision: Incidents involving OpenAI and Anthropic models demonstrate why organisations need effective human oversight, employee awareness, and clear escalation processes to manage unexpected agent behaviour.

Together with analysis of generative AI, physical AI, infrastructure spending, and open- and closed-weight models, these developments provide important context for business leaders assessing AI’s next phase.

Built on GlobalData Technology Intelligence

GlobalData’s Artificial Intelligence Executive Briefing combines analysis of technology developments, industry investment, emerging risks, and business implications to provide a concise view of the AI landscape.

The 11th edition brings together insights on generative, agentic, and physical AI, AI infrastructure spending, security challenges, and the debate surrounding model development and accessibility. It is designed to help decision-makers understand the developments influencing AI adoption and the opportunities and risks emerging across industries.

Act Now to Understand the Business Impact of AI

AI is set to influence every sector and business function as generative and agentic capabilities continue to advance. Organisations that understand the opportunities, investment trends, and security implications will be better positioned to make informed decisions about adoption and governance.

Use GlobalData’s Artificial Intelligence Executive Briefing (11th Edition) to stay informed on the trends shaping AI in 2026 and assess what they mean for your business.