Ey S Megatrends 2026 Report Human Machine Hybrid Economy

Bonisiwe Shabane

-Nov 29, 2025, 8:01 PM

ey s megatrends 2026 report human machine hybrid economy

Thrilled to share another contribution to EY's Megatrends 2026 report—exploring how emerging technologies are enabling the human-machine hybrid economy and fundamentally transforming how we work, lead, and create value. This research examines the convergence of AI, robotics, and neurotechnology that's pushing the boundaries of human potential and reshaping workforce dynamics across every industry. Key findings from our research: 🔹 Cognitive Augmentation is Here – Human-AI teams are achieving 73% higher productivity per worker. MIT and Johns Hopkins research shows that hybrid intelligence creates superior outcomes in marketing and advertising, demonstrating the power of complementary capabilities. 🔹 Physical Augmentation is Accelerating – The collaborative robotics (cobots) market is growing at 35% annually, reaching $60.6B by 2030. Meanwhile, exoskeleton technologies are expanding from manufacturing into healthcare and logistics, projected to grow from $1.4B in 2025 to $19.7B by 2035—a 30% annual growth rate.

🔹 The Hybrid Workforce Model – By 2030, work tasks will be nearly evenly divided between human-only, machine-only, and collaborative approaches. This isn't about replacement—it's about reimagining roles to harness augmented intelligence where humans and machines each contribute their unique strengths. The implications are profound: we're moving from traditional job architectures to dynamic frameworks where humans manage, direct, and collaborate with AI agents that amplify our judgment, creativity, and impact. Organizations that proactively redesign their structures for human-agent collaboration will unlock greater agility, innovation, and competitive advantage. As we enter this NAVI world (Nonlinear, Accelerated, Volatile, Interconnected), the question isn't whether to embrace human-machine partnerships—it's how quickly we can adapt our leadership models, workforce strategies, and organizational structures to thrive in... Read the full analysis: https://lnkd.in/gQBfeSSX How is your organization preparing for the human-machine hybrid workforce?

Are you augmenting human capabilities or still thinking in terms of automation vs. employment? Special thanks to Chris Yeh, Bryan Cassady, and Terri Horton, for their thoughtful contributions to this piece. #EYMegatrends #AI #FutureOfWork #HumanMachineHybrid #CognitiveAugmentation #Leadership #Robotics #WorkforceTransformation #Innovation Thanks for involving Me. .

Vitaly Golomb ., you asked great questions Explore new research on how AI is reshaping roles, skills, and org design, and learn what leaders need to build a more adaptable, human-centric workforce. Enter your details and unlock all of our content AI is reshaping work at a scale few leaders have experienced. Inside the Human-Machine Economy: A 2026 Report offers a clear view into how enterprises are redesigning jobs, redeploying talent, and rethinking the relationship between humans and AI agents. With insights from 170+ C-suite leaders, 115 HR leaders, and 200 early-career employees, it highlights the gaps holding organizations back ...

and the opportunities ahead for those who act with clarity. Download the report to understand the new shape of work – and how to prepare your organization for it. Discover the insights you need to make better decisions today, to shape the future with confidence. Private Equity Pulse: key takeaways from Q3 2025 EY helps clients create long-term value for all stakeholders. Enabled by data and technology, our services and solutions provide trust through assurance and help clients transform, grow and operate.

Climate change and sustainability services Discover how EY insights and services are helping to reframe the future of your industry. Excited to see BioPharmaTrend.com cited in Ernst & Young (EY)’s latest report, “How Emerging Technologies Are Enabling the Human-Machine Hybrid Economy” — part of their new EY Megatrends series. This in-depth piece explores how AI, robotics, brain-computer interfaces, and longevity research are accelerating us toward a hybrid era, one where human-machine collaboration pushes performance far beyond biological limits. 🔍 Key insights directly from the report: Enhanced workforces deliver 2.4× better performance, but leaders must address widening cognitive and physical divides. A study by MIT and Johns Hopkins involving 2,310 participants found that human-AI teams had 73% higher productivity and created higher-quality marketing content.

In manufacturing, exoskeleton-supported workers experienced up to 60% less physical strain, while industry-wide implementations saw 20–60% injury reductions and 15–25% productivity gains. In healthcare, AI-assisted diagnostics increased fracture detection sensitivity from 72% to 80%, and specificity from 81% to 85%, while cutting diagnostic time by 30.8%. In law, AI-powered contract review achieved 98% accuracy and cut review time from 92 minutes to 26 seconds. Investment in longevity research reached $8.5 billion in 2024, a 220% increase over the previous year, reflecting growing interest in technologies that may extend productive working lives. The article highlights urgent ethical and policy questions, including neural data privacy, cognitive autonomy, and the risk of an enhancement divide between those with access to augmentation and those without. Kudos to Beatriz Sanz Saiz for highlighting not just the tech, but the ethical, strategic, and societal shifts leaders need to navigate!

It is a thought-provoking, even entertaining, and insightful weekend read, folks. Image credit: Ernst & Young Read the full report here: https://www.ey.com/en_gl/megatrends/how-emerging-technologies-are-enabling-the-human-machine-hybrid-economy Thanks for posting this, the gains across sectors highlight how broad the shift has become. In this second video snippet from Episode 4 of the Zeroe[IN] Live Webinar Series “AI × Sustainability”, Farouk Jivani builds on the discussion by unpacking the real economics of AI adoption. He explains that AI is no longer a passing trend but a foundational layer of national competitiveness, with trillions being invested globally in infrastructure and enterprise deployment.

The question is no longer if organizations will engage with AI, but how quickly and responsibly they will. Farouk points out that delaying adoption comes at a measurable cost. Businesses lose $1.8 trillion annually in productivity, employees waste five hours a week searching for information, and manual workflows cost organizations $10–15 million per year on average. Through practical examples like invoice automation, where costs can drop from $13–16 to $1–6 per invoice, he illustrates how AI unlocks significant operational efficiencies and margin protection. Citing recent MIT research, Farouk notes that while AI leaders may not yet see immediate top-line growth, they are already realizing gains in efficiency, resilience, and competitiveness, proving that 'doing nothing' is no longer... This clip continues the “AI × Sustainability” discussion, exploring how enterprises can responsibly leverage technology to accelerate impact and build smarter, stronger systems.

Interested to learn how Zeroe can help your organization move faster toward sustainability goals: 👉 https://lnkd.in/dVynbFKT Simulating carbon footprint with generative AI only adds value if it guides real decisions. The key is to make scenarios comparable: clear functional unit, coherent boundaries and scopes, and versioned emission factors. With traceable data and documented assumptions, figures become useful and auditable, not merely illustrative. In this way, estimates stop being an isolated exercise and start informing concrete priorities. Governance underpins credibility: defined roles, change logs, and explanations of which variables drive results.

Sensitivity analysis and validation against historical data reduce bias and prevent greenwashing, while security and privacy management protect sensitive information. Transparency and consistency turn each simulation into a reliable asset. Impact comes when it is integrated into procurement, logistics, energy, and design with approval rules, thresholds, and periodic reviews. Starting with a focused scope and a stable baseline accelerates learning without sacrificing rigor. Tools like Syntetica or Vertex AI can help orchestrate data and scenarios discreetly, keeping the focus on clear, measurable decisions. #carbonfootprint #generativeAI #simulation #sustainability #data #governance #decarbonization #procurement #logistics #energy #productdesign #ESG https://ow.ly/TLnh50Xq8YP

EY helps clients create long-term value for all stakeholders. Enabled by data and technology, our services and solutions provide trust through assurance and help clients transform, grow and operate. Discover how EY insights and services are helping to reframe the future of your industry. How digital twin technology powers the future at Xcel Energy How Bristol Myers Squibb overhauled working capital to fund its future How St James’s Hospital's journey to cloud transformed cancer care

Discover the insights you need to make better decisions today, to shape the future with confidence. Private Equity Pulse: key takeaways from Q3 2025 EY helps clients create long-term value for all stakeholders. Enabled by data and technology, our services and solutions provide trust through assurance and help clients transform, grow and operate. Climate change and sustainability services Discover how EY insights and services are helping to reframe the future of your industry.

Work in the future will be a partnership between people, agents, and robots—all powered by artificial intelligence. While much of the current public debate revolves around whether AI will lead to sweeping job losses, our focus is on how it will change the very building blocks of work—the skills that underpin... Our research suggests that although people may be shifted out of some work activities, many of their skills will remain essential. They will also be central in guiding and collaborating with AI, a change that is already redefining many roles across the economy. In this research, we use “agents” and “robots” as broad, practical terms to describe all machines that can automate nonphysical and physical work, respectively. Many different technologies perform these functions, some based on AI and others not, with the boundaries between them fluid and changing.

Using the terms in this expansive way lets us analyze how automation reshapes work overall.1Our analysis considers a broader range of automation technologies than the narrow definition of agents commonly used in the AI... For more on how we define the term, see the Glossary. This report builds on McKinsey’s long-running research on automation and the future of work. Earlier studies examined individual activities, while this analysis also looks at how AI will transform entire workflows and what this means for skills. New forms of collaboration are emerging, creating skill partnerships between people and AI that raise demand for complementary human capabilities. Although the analysis focuses on the United States, many of the patterns it reveals—and their implications for employers, workers, and leaders—apply broadly to other advanced economies.

We find that currently demonstrated technologies could, in theory, automate activities accounting for about 57 percent of US work hours today.2Our analysis focuses exclusively on paid productive hours in the US workforce, encompassing full-time... We assess only the share of time awake that is spent on work-related activities, totaling roughly 45 percent of waking hours. Our analysis excludes time spent on unpaid tasks and leisure, but agents and robots could be used in related activities to support productivity and personal well-being. This estimate reflects the technical potential for change in what people do, not a forecast of job losses. As these technologies take on more complex sequences of tasks, people will remain vital to make them work effectively and do what machines cannot. Our assessment reflects today’s capabilities, which will continue to evolve, and adoption may take decades.

The landscape of modern business is undergoing a seismic shift. Once relegated to the realm of speculative research and siloed experimental labs, artificial intelligence has matured into the essential infrastructure of the present and the blueprint for the future.1 The initial phase of generative... Today, AI is no longer just a technological frontier; it has become a "bet-the-business" skill set, with its effective integration determining the success or failure of an organization.2 This strategic shift necessitates a fundamental... To guide its clients through this profound revolution, EY has undertaken a deliberate and foundational strategic choice: becoming its own first client, an approach it terms "Client Zero".4 This initiative is powered by an... This internal journey provided an authentic and empathetic perspective on the multifaceted challenges clients face, from technical integration to cultural change. It highlighted firsthand the risks of fragmented, piecemeal AI initiatives that can lead to "proof of concept fatigue" and squandered resources, a phenomenon EY teams directly encountered within their own organization.6 This direct, cause-and-effect...

Ey S Megatrends 2026 Report Human Machine Hybrid Economy

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