Q2 2026 State of AI + AE (Autonomous Economy) & Investment Opportunities #NYTechWeek
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We're at an interesting moment in AI.
The hype cycle has matured. The infrastructure bets are playing out. Agentic systems are moving from demos to production. And a new layer - what we call the Autonomous Economy - is starting to take shape in ways that matter for how companies get built and how capital gets deployed.
Most of the coverage still hasn't caught up. So George is going to share his read on it directly.
What we'll cover:
→ The Autonomous Economy - a working definition. Not a buzzword. A framework for understanding what's actually shifting and why it matters in 2026.
→ State of AI in Q2 2026: signal vs. noise. Where adoption is real, where infrastructure is consolidating, and where the application layer is opening up.
→ Investment themes Untapped is watching. The 3-5 verticals and theses we're most excited about right now - with real context, not generic categories.
→ What this means for founders and operators. Practical implications: what to build, what to avoid, and how to position for what's coming.
→ Live Q&A. Bring your questions. George will answer them directly.
Who should come:
Founders building AI-native or AE-adjacent companies. Investors and allocators looking for a fund-level read on where the market is going. Operators and leaders navigating AI inside their organizations. Anyone who's tired of surface-level takes and wants real signal.
About George:
George Bandarian is an AI investor, keynote speaker, and the Founder and General Partner of Untapped Ventures, an early-stage AI venture fund backing exceptional technical founders building the systems, infrastructure, and applications powering the Autonomous Economy (AE).
Through Untapped Ventures, he has backed 35+ AI-native companies, including xAI, You.com, Extropic, Liquid AI, and Harper, with a thesis spanning agentic systems, vertical AI, and next-generation compute.
George works closely with founders at the pre-seed and seed stages on company building, positioning, and go-to-market, and is also the host of the Agentic podcast (www.agenticai.vc).
This event is a part of #NYTechWeek—a week of events hosted by VCs and startups to bring together the tech ecosystem. Learn more at www.tech-week.com.