Agentic AI · OpenAI · Elon Musk · xAI · MIT Technology Review
Fostering breakthrough AI innovation through customer-back engineering
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In partnership with Capital One.
Key facts
- MIT Technology Review's authoritative overview of the 10 technologies, emerging trends, bold ideas, and powerful movements in AI in 2026
- More than half of the banking executives surveyed say they expect to continue to improve fraud detection (75%), security (64%), and the customer experience (51%)
- According to a recent MIT Technology Review Insights survey, 70% of leaders say their firm uses agentic AI to some degree
- According to Stanford’s 2026 AI Index, AI is sprinting, and they're struggling to keep up
Summary
Despite years of digitization, organizations capture less than one-third of the value expected from digital investments, according to McKinsey research. It’s a strategy in which products and services are developed with the customer experience first in mind, including the customers’ challenges, needs, and expectations. “When you get your engineers closer to customers, you get a lot more sideways innovation,” says Ashish Agrawal, managing vice president of business cards and payments tech at Capital One. Engineers are problem-solvers by nature, says Agrawal. “Fostering a customer-centric culture has a motivational effect on engineers when they start seeing how the core changes they’re making, or the features they’re adding, are having a direct impact on the lives of customers,” says Agrawal.