Generative A.I., smart glasses and robot taxis poised to shape consumer tech in 2026

Generative artificial intelligence is rapidly changing how people use their devices and browse the web, and is driving experiments with new gadgets and an expansion of self-driving taxi services, The New York Times technology columnist Brian X. Chen writes. Voice assistants from Apple, Google and Amazon have long failed to become ubiquitous beyond simple tasks, but text-based A.I.

chatbots such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini and Anthropic’s Claude have encouraged new conversational habits. Lucas Hansen of the nonprofit CivAI said more people are treating A.I. as a conversational partner, and start-ups such as Sesame AI are working on more humanlike voices; Mr.

Hansen also warned of risks for people with mental health issues, citing examples of paranoid delusions and suicides after interactions with chatbots. Companies are also searching for a successor to the smartphone. Ray-Ban Meta glasses have been a modest hit, with millions sold, and Meta recently began selling the Meta Ray-Ban Display with a small digital overlay.

Google and the start-up Pickle have shown similar devices, and some companies hope built-in A.I. companions will make glasses more appealing. Apple is reported, by a person briefed on the product, to be planning a foldable iPhone this year; competitors’ foldables have remained niche because of high prices and durability concerns.

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Tech, Generative Ai, Waymo, Ray-ban Meta Glasses, Foldable Iphone, Chatgpt