If 2025 was the year businesses started to get serious about AI, then 2026 is shaping up to be the year everyone starts asking: Where’s the impact of AI in supply chains?
AI is now a regular feature of boardroom agendas, investment plans and ops discussions. But some of the questions being raised – “Is AI safe?” – suggest we’re still stuck at surface level in many places. (It’s a fair question, but also: Safe to do what, exactly?)
For the businesses actually investing in AI, the big question now is: What value does it unlock?
From Pilots to Proof
Most large organisations now say they’re using AI. And in many cases, they are though often under the radar.
But there’s still a big gap between trying something out and driving measurable results.
Right now, only a handful of companies can point to real, repeatable outcomes: lower costs, faster decisions, better customer experience, or less pressure on stretched teams.
From what I’ve seen, there are plenty of “smart dashboards” out there, but not many examples of AI deeply embedded in planning and execution. That’s where the real opportunity lies. And that’s where we’ll start to see real value in 2026, especially in areas ripe for ‘modernisation’ like labour planning, where Predyktable is focused.
Because dashboards alone aren’t going to cut it.
A Tipping Point, But Not Yet Turnkey
There’s a strong case that enterprise AI is approaching an inflection point.
Spending is up again for most companies going into 2026. The tools are better. The infrastructure is catching up.
But what’s really needed now is more learning – and faster.
AI can still feel hard. But it’s getting less hard. Teams are learning where it fits, where it adds value, and where it doesn’t. They’re getting better at separating the hype from the real work.
As more companies shift from early adoption to early majority, we’ll see things accelerate. By this time next year, the question won’t be “Who’s running AI pilots?” It’ll be “Who’s scaling it and seeing results?”
Agents Are Moving Closer to the Action
AI agents are likely to become a much more visible part of day-to-day operations in 2026; working alongside people, not replacing them.
In retail and logistics especially, this is where speed compounds. Agent-based workflows can absorb more data, respond faster, and help teams make better calls, sooner. But they also require more compute, more integration, and critically, more trust.
In a fast-moving supply chain, the winners won’t be those with the most sophisticated models. It’ll be the teams that move with confidence when reality doesn’t go to plan.
Productivity Becomes the Scorecard
Until now, a lot of AI success stories have been anecdotal, things like “I saved time on email” or “we built this cool prototype.”
That’s not going to fly next year.
In 2026, AI performance will be judged by harder metrics:
- More accurate forecasts
- Lower cost to serve
- Better SLA performance – including explainability when things go wrong
At the top level, investors and analysts will be looking for signs that AI is lifting productivity. Internally, boards will want a clear view of ROI.
For supply chains already under cost pressure and dealing with ongoing labour challenges, this is when AI needs to prove its worth.
The Real Bottleneck? Leadership Bandwidth
If 2025 taught us anything, it’s that the tech isn’t the hard part anymore.
The real constraint is leadership attention and decision-making.
AI raises big, sometimes uncomfortable questions:
- What decisions stay with humans and what doesn’t?
- How do roles shift when coordination is automated?
- What does good performance look like in an AI-augmented team?
These aren’t IT questions. They cut to the heart of how organisations run.
The leaders who get ahead in 2026 will treat AI not as a side project or tech upgrade, but as a core part of how their business could operate.
Bottom Line: AI Moves From Promise to Pressure
For retailers and 3PLs facing into volatile demand, rising expectations and tight labour markets, standing still is no longer a neutral move, it’s a risk.
By the end of 2026, the gap between AI leaders and everyone else will be obvious:
- Faster, more confident decision-making
- Less friction in operations
- More resilient, adaptive supply chains
- And teams who can achieve more without burning out
The question for the year ahead isn’t whether AI will reshape supply chains.
It’s who will prove they can turn it into sustained advantage. The landscape for AI in supply chains in 2026 is bound to be transformative.