Looking Ahead to 2026
Where is the Data Cloud going next? Predictions for 2026.
As we ring in the new year, here are my three bold predictions for the Snowflake ecosystem in 2026.
1. The Rise of “Small Language Models” (SLMs)#
We spent 2025 obsessed with “Large” models. 2026 will be the year of specialized, domain-specific Small Language Models running efficiently inside SPCS. We will stop asking GPT-5 to format JSON, and start using tiny, hyper-fast models for specific data tasks.
2. Automated Governance via Agents#
Today, governance is rules-based (Tagging policies). In 2026, we will see Governing Agents—AI monitors that watch data usage patterns and auto-suggest (or auto-apply) policies. “Hey admin, I noticed the Marketing team is querying this PII column frequently. Should I mask it?“
3. Data Collaboration Economy#
The Marketplace will evolve from selling “Data” to selling “Intelligence.” You won’t just buy a weather dataset; you’ll subscribe to a “Supply Chain Risk Agent” that consumes your shipping data and the weather data to give you alerts. The value chain moves up.
Final Thoughts#
The line between “Data Warehouse” and “App Platform” is gone. 2026 is the year we stop building dashboards and start building agents that do the work for us.
Happy New Year!