Spain’s EFE warns 2026 AI autonomy and web 4.0 will reshape the internet

EFE’s forecast-heavy piece isn’t announcing a discrete breakthrough so much as crystallizing how mainstream institutions now talk about AI: as something poised to shift from assistive to autonomous control in real systems. When national wire services start normalizing phrases like “web 4.0” and “AI leading critical processes,” they shape expectations for policymakers, enterprise buyers, and the broader public.

For the AGI conversation, this kind of narrative cuts both ways. On one hand, it can fuel overconfidence and push organizations to over‑delegate decisions to immature systems, especially in sectors like finance, logistics, and public administration. On the other, it reflects a real underlying trend: agentic systems that schedule work, operate tools, and manage workflows are already creeping into production, and the line between “smart automation” and “proto‑AGI behavior” will look blurry from the outside.

What matters for Race to AGI readers is that the framing of 2026 as a tipping point will drive investment and regulatory attention. Expect more RFPs that assume autonomous agents are table stakes, and more debates about what level of control and transparency society should demand of these systems before we let them sit in the loop—or out of it.