A very happy new year to everyone, let me start my first post of the year with the assumption, that 2026 is going to be the year of AI. We saw tremendous growth of AI in 2025. With PMI leading from the front and great increase in CPMAI certified professionals in 2025 is making AI adaptable across industries. While AI as discipline of it's own is reaching new heights, it's applications in the field of project management are not limited, ranging from prototypes to the large scale transformation projects and more. I believe the profession will demand more competencies, skills and exploration of new horizons. Am i overstating or simply ambitious for AI Project Management, what are your thoughts?
I see this more as awareness. As AI becomes available as a tool, we as project managers will need to strengthen not only our technical and data-driven skills, but also critical thinking, human leadership, and business acumen. On this note, I’d like to point to this great article by Rupal Bhandari, which explores exactly this topic: how GenAI can enhance and augment business acumen. https://www.projectmanagement.com/articles...sted%20below%2E
AI can support us in building context and content, act as a thinking partner in decision-making, and help strengthen our skills—leaving us more strategic time for responsibility-taking, imagination, and creation.
Wishing you all a great 2026, filled with continuous integration, joy, and growing business acumen! Saving Changes...
Within a year, AI will be seamlessly integrated into day-to-day work. Creating polished, visually impressive slides will be a given, AI can generate them in seconds.
What will truly differentiate people is not the presentation itself, but the thinking behind it. Insight, judgment, and original value will separate those who contribute meaningfully from those who simply copy and paste. Saving Changes...
Program Manager, PPM&PMO Specialist.| Coppel, Mexico.Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico
Farhan Liaquat I believe you are being a little ambitious, but in a very grounded way. While I agree that 2026 will see increased adoption, I don't think we will see a "massive takeoff" or full-scale transformation just yet. Instead, we are entering a phase where its use will gradually expand as we figure out practical applications.
In my specific area, for example, we are currently in the early stages of implementation. We are primarily using AI for content drafting and document generation, which significantly improves our efficiency with administrative tasks. However, we are still a step away from letting it handle complex project decision-making or predictive analytics.
The profession will definitely demand new competencies, as you mentioned, but for most of 2026, I suspect we will focus on mastering these foundational use cases before moving toward the large-scale transformations you envision. Regards, Francisco. Saving Changes...
I tend to see 2026 less as a turning point and more as a consolidation phase. AI is already part of the PM routine in many ways, but the real difference will still come from how decisions are made, especially when priorities conflict or information is incomplete. Tools can speed things up, but judgment, integration, and accountability are still very human responsibilities. Those fundamentals won't disappear, they'll just become more visible. Saving Changes...
Program Manager| HARPER SRLSanto Domingo / Distrito Nacional, Dominican Republic
I don’t think you’re overstating it, but I also wouldn’t frame 2026 as a breakthrough year so much as a normalization year. AI is becoming part of the PM toolkit, not a separate role. The real shift are the higher expectations: better judgment, faster sense-making, clearer accountability. AI will handle more preparation and analysis, but the hard parts of project management, trade-offs, prioritization, stakeholder trust, and decision ownership, remain very human. So yes, new skills will be required. Just not to become “AI project managers,” but to remain credible project managers in an AI-augmented environment. Saving Changes...
Project Manager| AWR Development (BD) Ltd. Cox's Bazer , Bangladesh
Great perspective, Farhan. I don’t think you’re overstating it—AI is clearly pushing project management to evolve. The real shift will be in how PMs build new skills, apply judgment, and lead change while using AI as an enabler, not a replacement.
"Imagine if every Thursday your shoes exploded if you tied them the usual way. This happens to us all the time with computers, and nobody thinks of complaining."
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