The 7 Technology Trends For 2027 Everyone Must Prepare For Now

In 2027, technology enters a new phase, with AI at its core, extending beyond chatbots into the physical world. Concerns about AI safety, including existential risks and the proliferation of synthetic content, will challenge our perception of reality and demand new strategies. Embodied AI, from humanoid robots to autonomous weapons, will increasingly integrate into daily life and warfare, raising ethical questions. The human factor will focus on adapting workforces and debating universal basic income amidst technological shifts. We'll also see a move towards a post-screen age with wearables and advanced voice assistants. Fueling this revolution requires immense power, driving a race for innovative energy solutions like small modular reactors and orbital power. Ultimately, 2027 marks an age of convergence, where these powerful technologies collide, reshaping society and forcing us to manage their profound consequences.

From AI safety and humanoid robots to autonomous weapons, smart glasses and new sources of energy, 2027 will bring technologies that reshape how we work, live and interact with the world.

Technology is moving into a new phase in 2027, and once again AI sits at the center of it.

But this year the story goes far beyond chatbots and generative AI. Intelligent machines are moving into the physical world, humanoid robots are learning to work alongside us, autonomous weapons are raising frightening new questions, and AI-generated content is making it increasingly difficult to know what is real.

Meanwhile, the enormous computing power required to fuel this revolution is creating a race for new sources of energy, while wearables, smart glasses and increasingly capable voice assistants are beginning to challenge the screen as our primary interface with technology.

Other technologies we were talking about a few years ago, including VR, cryptocurrency and 3D printing, haven’t disappeared. They are quietly transforming industries and everyday life. But in 2027, they are competing for attention with developments that could have far more profound consequences.

AI is still the center of the story, but 2027 is no longer about chatbots. Machines move into the physical world, humanoid robots start working beside people, autonomous weapons raise new questions, and synthetic content makes it harder to know what is real. Compute demand drives a race for energy. Wearables, smart glasses, and voice assistants start to challenge the screen. Older themes (VR, crypto, 3D printing) have not vanished, but they are competing with developments he thinks will matter more. The through-line is convergence, and the hard questions are about technology, humanity, and power.

1. AI safety

Marr says the biggest AI stories of late 2026 have been about risk, and public trust is falling. He cites Anthropic researcher Evan Hubinger’s claim that AI has about a 10% chance of wiping out humanity, and asks whether governments and international bodies will act in 2027. He also points to incidents such as the Hugging Face attacks as signs that loss-of-control risk is growing.

2. What is real?

Deepfakes, synthetic media, and disinformation at machine speed. Telling authentic from generated gets harder, and the problem is not only political. Teachers marking work, HR screening applicants, and security services tracking propaganda all spend more time separating fact from AI fiction.

3. Embodied and physical AI

Autonomous cars, humanoid robots, and AI battlefield weapons. AI is no longer only on phones and computers. Marr does not expect C-3PO coworkers for everyone in 2027, but he does expect the foundations of a society where people and intelligent machines work, travel, and live side by side.

4. The human factor

Infrastructure for people adjusting to that shift: continued debate and trials of universal basic income, plus tech-driven reskilling so workforces become more effective rather than redundant. He argues that creativity, strategy, and relationship-building will matter more in building, rolling out, and managing these systems.

5. The future of war

He treats Ukraine and Middle East conflicts as proving grounds for electronic warfare, autonomous weapons, and remote drones, and says peace is not on the 2027 agenda. The frightening prospect is robots that decide when to use lethal force. A UN and ICRC deadline of the end of 2026 for a treaty on autonomous weapons looks, in his view, likely to be missed.

6. The post-screen age

Screens do not disappear. Wearables, smart glasses, and voice assistants carry more of the data. He cites IDC figures that Meta and Google smart-glasses sales rose 167% and are expected to keep rising, and says smarter AI makes speakers, earbuds, and in-car systems actually conversational. He also flags the counter-trend: digital minimalism and people trying to declutter.

7. Power play

None of the above happens without electricity, and supply is uncertain because of geopolitics, sentiment, and new tech. Data centers are creating city-scale demand. Themes for 2027: small modular reactors sited at power-hungry facilities, orbital solar plants that harvest sunlight around the clock, and more talk of fusion. Google signed the first commercial agreement to buy fusion power in 2025; delivery is not expected before 2030, but interest rises as it gets closer.

He closes on convergence. AI, robotics, energy, new interfaces, and autonomous systems collide in ways that reshape work, communication, conflict, creation, and decisions. The 2027 challenge is keeping the ability to deploy these systems in step with the ability to understand and manage the consequences.