MODEX 2026: All AI, All the Time

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been around a long, long time, dating back as a going concern at least to the mid-1950s, with research into the field going back even further. AI emerged as an industry focused on real-world products and applications in the 1980s with the introduction of Lisp machines, expert systems, neural network devices, speech recognition, and intelligent agents. Eventually the emergence of low-cost computing, increasingly advanced processing chips, and the near-ubiquity of search engines and smartphones drove the idea of an “AI industry” onto the backburners since everybody was already using AI (Alexa, Siri and Google are all based on intelligent technologies), so it no longer seemed much of a talking point for tech developers to mention the AI embedded in their solutions. In fact, as recently as 10 years ago, when trade association MHI and consulting firm Deloitte presented the MHI Annual Industry Report at MODEX 2016, “artificial intelligence” wasn’t even included as one of the emerging technologies most likely to have an impact on supply chains in the coming years.

Of course, that’s due as much to marketing and consultant-speak as it is on the actual use of AI. Back in 2016, the MHI-Deloitte report focused technologies such as robotics, driverless vehicles, predictive analytics, and inventory optimization tools—every one of which relies on AI. But AI’s day in the buzzword sun was seen to have eclipsed by then, so people weren’t really fixated much on it. Times change quickly, though, as we all know. The combination of a global pandemic that drove people indoors and caused them to rethink their need for instant delivery of goods, coupled with the introduction of large language models as a consumer-friendly (and easily understood) application of AI has brought us to where we are today: an AI-everywhere marketplace where the hype still greatly outpaces the reality of what exactly type of competitive advantage companies can expect to gain from the use of AI.

This year, the MHI Annual Industry Report (delivered at MODEX 2026, held as usual in Atlanta) did indeed include AI in its list of disruptive technologies; in fact, AI was at the very top of the list, with 70% of respondents to a survey of 500 supply chain professionals indicating they believe AI has the potential to disrupt their industry. That’s not just for the near term; according to the survey, AI is seen as the most disruptive technology for the next decade, which is somewhat ironic given how long the basic premise of smart software and predictive decision-making has been around. Even more ironic, perhaps, is that the biggest obstacles to AI catching on for material handling and logistics professionals are the lack of real-world business cases and unclear ROI timelines. The survey indicates that 28% of respondents aren’t using AI technologies at all for any supply chain purpose. As Mark Twain might have said if he were alive today, “Everybody talks about AI but nobody is doing anything with it.”

Nevertheless, plenty of people were talking about AI at MODEX 2026, including representatives of the 1,100 exhibiting companies, many of whom were promoting AI-based products. The frequent mention of AI as a product feature among MODEX exhibitors was reminiscent of previous shows where buzzwords like the Internet of Things, Big Data, cloud computing and software-as-a-service were the disruptive technologies du jour. At a keynote panel focused on the MHI Annual Industry Report, Wanda Johnson, supply chain technology fellow with Deloitte Consulting (and a co-author of the report), opined, “Those who connect operational excellence, AI-driven orchestration and workforce readiness into a single playbook will not just withstand disruption; they will convert it into sustained performance and growth.”

“The biggest threat we face isn’t disruption,” added John Paxton, CEO of MHI. “It’s the failure to innovate and the risk of running tomorrow’s operations on yesterday’s equipment and technology.” Which is kind of what you’d expect to hear from the head of an organization dedicated to helping its members sell new equipment and technology.

One of the users of the new technology, though, is Carvana, an online used car retailer. According to Camille Blake, Carvana’s regional director of logistics, the company uses AI extensively for analytics and insights. AI’s real power, she said, “is turning massive amounts of data into clear signals that help leaders see what’s ahead and act with greater speed and confidence.”

Another user of AI technology is The Walt Disney Company, and according to another panelist, Fred Cox Jr., director of manufacturing at Disney’s Central Shops, “Automation technologies like robotics, AI, automated guided vehicles (AGVs), and wearables are transforming warehouses and manufacturing operations.” But there’s a catch, Cox added. “Organizations are only successful when they design for execution, and they need to have clear end-to-end ownership of the process.” If your current processes are chaotic, he said, automating that chaos will only make things worse.

“Don’t just invest in technology for the sake of technology,” cautioned Stephanie Thomas, a professor of supply chain management at The University of Arkansas. “Invest as much in the execution and the people executing it as you are in the technology.”

Based on the survey results, more than half (56%) of the organizations that responded plan to increase their spending on supply chain technology over the next two years. Roughly half of the companies (48%) said their total spend will be less than $1 million, but on the other hand, 52% plan to spend more than $1 million. Curiously, those numbers match up exactly with the ratios from a decade ago, when the 2016 MHI report indicated the same split between those spending less than $1 million (48%) those spending at least $1 million (52%). The buzzwords may change, but the pie still gets sliced about the same.

Check out our slideshow of new products and solutions introduced at MODEX 2026 here.