Page 18 - EngineerIT April May Issue 2026

AI INTEGRATION

The year AI became infrastructure,

and other predictions

In the beginning, AI was simply a tool. Now, it has become more grounded and capable,
with the capacity to change business at the infrastructure level.

ver the past year, AI has moved AI’s narrative has also shifted away from the two extremes of being
away from experiments with considered either “magic” or dangerous. A more grounded zeitgeist
Ogenerative models towards of what’s actually happening inside companies moving beyond
governed, scaled, agentic systems experimentation is emerging.
embedded in products, workflows and
devices. Usage has morphed from The shift became noticeable to industry leaders long before it became
pockets of enthusiasm to widespread fashionable. As far back as 2024, one webinar argued that AI was already
adoption as companies dig into the value outgrowing its novelty and becoming more consequential. Predictions
it offers and find better ways to extract it. suggested that AI’s evolution to embedded infrastructure would be
powered by architecture, platforms and human behaviour.

A year later, that analysis stands. As do other predictions about the
technology's potential and how it is set to challenge the fabric of the
organisation over the next year.

By Doug Morrison, VP of Modern Workplace at Braintree and
Raymond Collins, AI Sales Executive at Braintree

18 | EngineerIT April/May 2026