Lesley Pinckney is an accomplished marketing and digital transformation expert and founder of The Big Idea Catalyst. With a focus on youth and diverse audiences, she has been a driver of marketing innovation for Fortune 500 brands across multiple categories. She’s held leadership positions in both public companies and start-ups. Joining Intel in spring of 2021, Lesley serves as Head of Marketing for Incubation & Disruptive Innovation. In this role, she oversees marketing and communication for the IDI business group, the Intel Incubation Program and all ventures within IDI. IDI combines vision technology and AI to develop vertically integrated solutions across categories like robotics, finance, healthcare and retail.
As the general manager of Essence.com, Lesley negotiated an internal joint venture between Time Inc. and Warner Brothers Television group. The joint venture secured investment funding for an Essence.com redesign and re-launch. In 5 years, Lesley built Essence.com to become the most profitable digital property per unique visitor at Time Inc. She also led the diversification of sales inventory to unlock new ad sales categories and revenue streams. Revenue grew by 20% year over year. As the Executive Strategy Director for GMR Marketing and the Omnicom Experience Group, Lesley built two successful agency capabilities leading the creative technology and social media practices. She has also served on several non-profit boards focused on improving outcomes for youth and currently sits on the Board of Directors for Near North Montessori School in Chicago. Lesley and her wife Tiffany share a precious and precocious 6-year-old daughter named Penny (Penelope), and an even more precocious 7year-old miniature cock-poo, Ziggy. Lesley loves to cook and dreams to try her hand on Chopped.
In a recent masterclass, Lesley Pinckney returned to The WIE Suite to deliver her annual technology trends roundup, offering a comprehensive look at the forces that will shape 2026. From artificial intelligence's maturation to the rise of robotics and the evolution of digital commerce, Pinckney presented a clear-eyed assessment of where technology is headed and what it means for business leaders and founders. Here are the key insights:
The narrative around artificial intelligence has shifted dramatically over the past year. After an exuberant beginning to 2025, when AI was touted as a solution to every business problem, the year closed with skepticism about whether the technology could deliver on its promises. Pinckney cautioned against both extremes, noting that reality lies somewhere in between.
"It has obviously all been AI this year. It's everywhere. The beginning of the year, we were told that AI would solve everything. And now in December, we're being told that this AI bubble is going to ruin us all. I think neither of those things are true," Pinckney explained. She attributed much of the hype cycle to technology's inherent culture of promotion, where "everything is going to be life changing and groundbreaking, and usually that's not the case, or that's usually not the case initially."
The sobering statistic driving much of the current pessimism comes from MIT's Nan Dee project, which found that in 2025 only 5 percent of AI pilot programs achieved rapid revenue acceleration, defined as positive profit and loss impact within six months of deployment. However, Pinckney contextualized this finding, pointing out that six months represents an insufficient timeline for many AI implementations, particularly those involving legacy data sources.
The challenge lies in the gap between individual productivity gains and enterprise-wide transformation. While countless professionals have experienced AI's benefits through tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini for everyday tasks, these individual wins have proven difficult to measure and scale. "There is a ton of individual usage that has driven productivity, but as we all know, that's really hard to measure and quantify, and hasn't necessarily allowed to realize savings, because right now, AI is not good enough to really replace workers," Pinckney noted.
Looking ahead to 2026, Pinckney predicts a strategic pivot toward back-office operations. "I think one of the things that I think you'll see more of in 2026 is people focusing more on back of house efforts and really thinking about automating things and finance and legal," she said. These functions offer more repeatable, structured processes that are better suited to current AI capabilities than the nuanced work of creative campaign development.
For business leaders navigating this landscape, Pinckney offered practical guidance: start with existing tools embedded in platforms like Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, engage staff in identifying pain points suitable for automation, establish transparent policies about AI usage, and focus first on repeatable tasks. She emphasized that smaller companies possess a distinct advantage, as they typically operate on cloud-based software-as-a-service platforms with native AI features already built in. "Just by nature of having less users, potentially less data, and being on sort of these digital, native SAS platforms, you'll have an advantage to, you know, converting to AI, so use it," she advised.
Perhaps most critically, Pinckney stressed the importance of transparency in an era of eroding trust between businesses and consumers. "One of the ways to sort of combat that for your business or brand is to be very clear about how you're using AI when you're using AI, and what guardrails you've set in place," she said, adding that "transparency, I think, is one of those behaviors that really is a rising tide that lifts all boats."
Beyond software, Pinckney highlighted the physical manifestation of AI advances: robotics. The combination of artificial intelligence, computer vision, and improved wireless protocols has brought humanoid robots from science fiction to practical reality. At the first World Humanoid Robotics Games in Beijing earlier this year, robots competed in sports and demonstrated capabilities in industrial tasks, pharmaceutical operations, and hospitality services.
The scale of robot deployment is accelerating dramatically. "2025 expected to see the largest installation of robots of all time, that trend will continue in 2026 I think it will actually explode because of some other sort of infrastructure opportunities that we are seeing come to fruition," Pinckney reported. China has taken the global lead, now controlling 43 percent of the operational stock of robots worldwide, and producing more than half of all robots installed in 2024.
The implications extend beyond manufacturing. Pinckney suggested that humanoid robots will soon appear in affluent households, predicting that "if you have ultra rich friends, you could probably expect to see a humanoid robot in their home by the end of this year." This consumer-facing deployment represents a new frontier for robotics, moving the technology from controlled industrial environments into unpredictable domestic settings.
After years of speculation and volatility, cryptocurrency is entering what Pinckney described as an infrastructure phase, with 2026 poised to bring meaningful changes to the ecosystem. New regulatory frameworks designed for institutional participation are coming online, promising greater security and broader accessibility. However, the enforcement picture remains uncertain under the current administration, which "started off the year with basically a crypto rug pull," according to Pinckney.
More significant are the technical upgrades enabling mainstream adoption. Infrastructure improvements will minimize transaction fees and reduce execution times, historically two of the biggest barriers to widespread crypto usage. "Many of them are multi day, and the fees can can get up there. And so these new technologies on the infrastructure side are driving scalability and speed on the network, allowing crypto to really sort of behave a little bit more like apps and the World Wide Web, again, in preparation for mass usage," Pinckney explained.
Real-world asset tokenization represents another promising development, potentially democratizing investment opportunities by enabling fractional ownership of tangible assets. "If I want to build a building and raise money, I can list it in a tokenized format and allow smaller investors to potentially invest on the blockchain into projects," Pinckney illustrated. This could create new capital pathways for small businesses, underserved communities, and public service initiatives, though Pinckney cautioned that crypto's track record on democratization has been mixed.
Perhaps most intriguing are AI agents operating on blockchain networks. These automated entities possess verifiable identities and can execute transactions autonomously on behalf of users. Pinckney offered a compelling use case: a travel agent that continuously searches for optimal deals, automatically books when prices drop, switches hotels if better options emerge, and adjusts plans based on weather conditions. "Imagine being able to say to your bot, I want to go to the warmest place I can go to for my kids spring big that is child friendly, that has, you know, sweet hotel rooms, and I don't want to spend more than $5,000 and it will do that for you," she said.
Supporting this vision are decentralized physical infrastructure networks, or DePIN, which use blockchain to build and operate real-world infrastructure. Examples include Helium, which allows users to share WiFi for tokens; Hive Mapper, which crowdsources geospatial data from dashcams to create open-source mapping alternatives to Google Maps; and Arkreen, which enables selling excess solar energy for cryptocurrency. These networks represent crypto's evolution beyond financial speculation toward practical utility.
The e-commerce landscape continues its rapid evolution, with TikTok emerging as a category-defining force. The platform now processes $32 million in daily sales, but more tellingly, 17 percent of US adults now begin their online product searches on TikTok, a behavior previously dominated by Amazon. "This is an area that Amazon used to be absolutely dominant on, and I think while we're not seeing a huge changing of the guard, think it's definitely something to keep an eye out," Pinckney observed.
TikTok's success stems from its integrated creator ecosystem, which the company has deliberately nurtured. The platform makes shop creation and creator partnerships straightforward, generating remarkable engagement rates that dwarf other social platforms. The live shopping component, exemplified by QVC's success on TikTok, represents the next growth phase. For brands without a TikTok shop presence, Pinckney's advice was unequivocal: "You should think about it for 2026 for sure."
Beyond platform dynamics, Pinckney expressed serious concerns about dynamic pricing, which she characterized as "greed gone wild." This AI-powered practice analyzes consumer data to determine individual willingness to pay, adjusting prices accordingly. Delta Airlines generated headlines by implementing systems that consider frequent flyer status and shopping behavior when setting ticket prices. "If you, you know, fly more frequently, or you're more likely to buy a first class ticket, there's, there's algorithms that will say, Okay, well, if they're already buying a first class ticket, how much more can I push them," Pinckney explained. She minced no words in her assessment: "I think it sucks, basically, and I hope it does not become the norm."
The broader e-commerce picture for 2026 carries challenges, particularly for smaller creators operating in a K-shaped economy where luxury spending surges while lower price points struggle. Tariff complications compound these difficulties, especially for small-ticket creators dependent on international supply chains.
As public social networks become increasingly toxic and difficult to trust, Pinckney identified a clear trend toward personalized, affinity-based communities built on platforms like Slack and Discord. "Public networks are really not ideal for many due to the toxicity, I think personalized, affinity based networks are where we're going," she said.
These platforms now offer directories for discovering relevant groups, with Slack channels typically taking on a professional orientation while Discord servers lean toward personal passions and hobbies. Notable communities include Startup CPG for consumer packaged goods founders, Online Geniuses for marketers, and various passion-driven spaces for interests ranging from romance fiction to professional development.
This shift reflects broader concerns about the "dead internet," a term describing the reality that bots now generate the majority of online content. For brands, this environment demands renewed focus on authenticity and direct engagement. "You really have to be authentic and figure out ways where you can authentically engage your audience," Pinckney emphasized, noting younger consumers' preference for experiential connections and in-person brand activations.
Pinckney's presentation concluded with a sobering assessment of privacy and data security. Trust has reached historic lows, yet clear guidelines for data usage remain absent. "There really are no guiding principles about how privacy and data are being used," she stated.
Her recommendations for personal protection were direct: use password managers, enable two-factor authentication universally, and regularly review privacy settings across all platforms. And audit these regularly.
For business leaders, Pinckney returned to her theme of transparency as a competitive advantage. Companies that clearly communicate their AI usage, model training approaches, data sources, and algorithmic optimization will build trust in an environment where it has become scarce. "I think transparency will have brand value in this new digital world," she concluded.
The path forward requires balancing opportunity with responsibility, innovation with ethics, and technological advancement with human values. As Pinckney articulated, artificial intelligence, like marketing itself, can be applied to any endeavor and serves the intentions of those who wield it. "It can be used for good, and it can also be used for bad, and we can shape that future," she said. In 2026, shaping that future will require both technical sophistication and moral clarity from leaders across industries.
