The 2026 Consumer Tech Comeback: AI Concierges, Voice Interfaces, and the War Over Real News

As AI chatbots start booking your trips and playing your Spotify playlists, venture capitalists are betting 2026 will be the year consumers finally outgrow enterprise AI’s corporate doldrums.

Vanessa Larco of Premise predicts 2026 will be a "gangbuster" year for consumer tech, citing faster product-market fit validation. "This is gonna be the year of the consumer," she said on the Equity podcast. Consumer AI adoption is already visible in OpenAI’s ChatGPT apps for Target, Zillow, Expedia, and Spotify, which avoid the "concierge vs. specialized" ambiguity that plagues enterprise solutions.

Meta’s acquisition of Manus AI could enhance Ray-Ban smart glasses’ voice interface, which Larco praises for hands-free utility. "Some things are better with voice than a screen," she said, citing voice’s potential for natural interactions.

However, concerns over AI-generated misinformation muddying social media persist. "If I’m just gonna be watching AI-generated videos... I want it to be funny," she noted. Meta may shift from news platform to entertainment/content hub as AI erodes trust in its authenticity.

Startups avoiding OpenAI’s 30% cut of traffic will thrive, focusing on real-world asset management. Investment in consumer tech startups has declined since 2022 due to macroeconomic volatility and inflation.