Qiming Venture Partners releases the top ten prospects for AI in 2026: Top models will internalize most of the “plug-in” capabilities

Smart Things Author | ZeR0 Editor | Mo Ying Smart Things July 21st and July 19th, Qiming Venture Partners hosted the World Artificial Intelligence Conference WAIC The 2026 "Qiming Venture Partners Entrepreneurship and Investment Forum - The Evolutionary Journey from the Origin of Computing Power to the Implementation of Applications" focuses on the cutting-edge trends of AI in the field of entrepreneurship and investment, brings together top scientists, innovation leaders and senior investors, sets up 3 keynote speeches, 1 in-depth dialogue, and 1 roundtable discussion, and releases three major core results to explore how the industry can move beyond the pursuit of simple parameters to the ultimate exploration of actual scenarios, cost reduction and efficiency, and closed-loop business models. As one of the most forward-looking and influential venture capital institutions in the field of AI, this is the fourth consecutive year that Qiming Venture Partners has hosted this forum. It is also the only forum initiated by a venture capital institution at this World Artificial Intelligence Conference, aiming to showcase and discuss the latest breakthroughs in AI from the bottom of computing power to industrial implementation from an innovative perspective. Qiming Venture Partners has systematically deployed in the AI ​​field since 2013. So far, it has invested in more than 100 projects in the AI ​​field, with a total investment of 12 billion yuan. Through the entire industry chain layout of underlying computing power, basic models, multi-modal technologies, embodied intelligence and vertical applications, Qiming Venture Partners has successfully discovered and promoted the growth of multiple innovative benchmark companies, witnessing AI entering the era of intelligence explosion. During the opening speech, Zhou Zhifeng, managing partner of Qiming Venture Partners, delivered a speech titled "Crossing the Technology Wave: Looking for Business Inflection Points in the AI ​​Era" and made Qiming Venture Partners' top ten AI prospects for 2026 focusing on basic models, embodied intelligence, AI infrastructure, and AI applications. This is the fourth consecutive year that Qiming Venture Partners has released the top ten prospects for AI. 1. Basic model Outlook 1: In the next 12-24 months, the top model will internalize most of the "plug-in" capabilities, including task planning, tool invocation, multi-agent collaboration and some Harness engineering capabilities. Outlook 2: Multimodal models will further evolve towards interactive world modeling, becoming a key technology path for AI to gain environmental awareness, long-term planning and large-scale implementation in the physical world. 2. Embodied Intelligence Outlook