How People Are Really Using AI in 2026

It’s been three-and-a-half years since generative AI exploded onto the scene. In this past year, progress has continued its relentless pace: Vibe coding took off, companies embraced agentic workflows, regular users of ChatGPT hit 900 million and Google’s Gemini surpassed 750 million, and OpenAI posted an $852 billion valuation in its latest funding round.