It’s the Pure Report annual predictions episode! We welcome Shawn Rosemarin to dive deep into the world of tech in 2026, including a look back at 2025 predictions on AI becoming a strategist, Multi-Cloud 2.0 requiring a unified data platform, and end-to-end security ramping up. Shawn holds himself accountable for last year’s bets, particularly noting that the expected "operating model transformation" driven by AI has yet to fully materialize, arguing that many organizations are still grappling with the hard changes to people, process, and technology required for true transformation.

Our conversation pivots to what’s next, starting with the evolution of AI from simple co-pilots to autonomous agents that will soon become mature process owners capable of completing end-to-end workflows. This shift will require a greater emphasis on verification, changing the industry's focus from time to answer to time to trust (or time to truth) as enterprises build verification stacks to ensure AI accuracy, recognizing that every mistake costs money and customer satisfaction.

Finally, Rosemarin forecasts that growing energy scarcity will drive new AI economics, forcing serious programs to run AI like a business system by routing queries to the most efficient models. Furthermore, he predicts that data stops being an asset and evolves to a supply chain, necessitating a manufacturing-like process to refine structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data for uniform consumption by training systems. This new landscape will ultimately punish infrastructure complexity and reward the platform mindset that simplifies operations and removes friction through automation and orchestration.

To learn more, visit https://blog.purestorage.com/perspectives/2026-ai-predictions-data-storage/

Check out the new Pure Storage digital customer community to join the conversation with peers and Pure experts:

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00:00 Intro and Welcome

09:30 Look back at 2025 Predictions

17:33 William Gibson Quote on the Future

22:20 2026 Predictions - Copilots Become Agents

26:48 Verification and Time to Trust

30:30 Energy Scarcity and AI Economics

34:13 Data as a Supply Chain

38:50 Relevance Engines

42:10 Platform Mindset

45:43 Content Authenticity

49:37 Cyber as an Executive Imperative

52:35 Workforce Productivity

55:21 Summary of 2026 Predictions