Descriptions:
Liam Ottley, founder of Morningside AI, lays out 11 predictions for the AI services market in 2026, drawing on day-to-day work with Fortune 500 companies and NBA teams. The core thesis is that the AI agency market is not contracting but evolving — shifting away from pure development shops toward what Ottley calls “AI transformation partners” capable of delivering education, consulting, development, and long-term optimization under one roof.
A central data point driving several predictions is an MIT study finding that 95% of enterprise AI pilots fail, which Ottley ties to a broader technology adoption lifecycle shift. Early adopters tolerated uncertainty, but the early and late majority now demand clear, measurable ROI before committing budget. This raises the bar for agencies, who must arrive with specific case studies — for example, a documented 30% reduction in customer support costs — rather than general capability claims.
Other key predictions include the continued rise of the AI audit as a client acquisition tool, the emergence of vibe-automation platforms (text-to-workflow tools analogous to vibe coding for n8n-style automation), and the growing importance of internal testing and optimization pipelines — since systems like AI appointment setters and voice agents require weeks of production tuning beyond initial build time. Ottley also addresses OpenClaw’s ClawHub skills marketplace, advising non-technical builders to be cautious about building businesses on infrastructure not yet ready for enterprise security and compliance requirements.
📺 Source: Liam Ottley · Published December 11, 2025
🏷️ Format: Opinion Editorial
