AI in 2026: Reid Hoffman’s Predictions on Agents, Work, and Creation

From cofounding LinkedIn to backing OpenAI early, Reid Hoffman is in the habit of being right about the future, so we wanted to know what he saw coming in 2026.

In his third appearance on AI & I, Hoffman lays out his predictions for where AI will go in the 12 months ahead. He talks to Dan Shipper about how agents will break out of coding into other domains and who’s winning the coding agent race. They also get into how Hoffman defines artificial general intelligence, the way he believes enterprises will use AI, and why public debate on AI might turn more negative, even as the technology becomes more empowering for individuals.

Hoffman’s other bets on the future include cofounding AI drug discovery startup Manas AI, investing at venture capital firm Greylock Partners, writing books, and hosting the Masters of Scale podcast. He’s also an investor at Every.

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Timestamps:

00:00:00 - Start

00:00:52 - Introduction

00:02:20 - The future of work is an entrepreneurial mindset

00:05:22 - Creation is addictive (and that’s okay)

00:09:22 - Why discourse around AI might get uglier this year

00:17:03 - AI agents will break out of coding in 2026

00:24:18 - What makes Anthropic’s Opus 4.5 such a good model

00:28:46 - Who will win the agentic coding race

00:36:13 - Why enterprise AI will finally land this year

00:43:16 - How Hoffman defines AGI

00:55:33 - The most underrated category to watch in AI right now

Links to resources mentioned in the episode:

• Reid Hoffman: Reid Hoffman (@reidhoffman)
• The AI drug discovery startup Hoffman cofounded: Manas AI
  
  

What is AI & I?

Learn how the smartest people in the world are using AI to think, create, and relate. Each week I interview founders, filmmakers, writers, investors, and others about how they use AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Midjourney in their work and in their lives. We screen-share through their historical chats and then experiment with AI live on the show. Join us to discover how AI is changing how we think about our world—and ourselves.

For more essays, interviews, and experiments at the forefront of AI: https://every.to/chain-of-thought?sort=newest.