McKinsey’s latest technology report doesn’t mention wellness once. That’s exactly why our industry needs to read between the lines.
Every year, McKinsey & Company publishes its Technology Trends Outlook, a deep dive into the technologies shaping business. The 2026 edition, released in September, covers 14 trends, from AI agents and robotics to quantum computing and space technology.
At 143 pages, it’s an impressive piece of work. It’s also written for big corporates, tech investors and engineers. Search it for “wellness” and you’ll come up empty.
So why are we writing about it? Because the technology shaping every other industry will shape ours too, and usually faster than we expect. Our industry spans spas, fitness, retreats, clinics, hospitality, real estate and product brands. We can’t afford to find out about these shifts after our customers already have.
Here are the five findings that we think matter most to wellness businesses; what we’d do about each one, and the trends you can safely leave on the shelf for now.
1. Your next customer may send an AI agent to book for them
What McKinsey found
Agentic AI is AI that doesn’t just answer questions but also takes action, such as comparing options, filling in forms and making purchases. McKinsey describes a shift towards “intent-based purchasing, where consumers state their desired outcomes, rather than browse listings, and allow AI agents to handle comparison and purchase.”
This is already happening. In China, Alibaba’s AI assistant is doing everything from ordering milk tea to booking flights for users. Mastercard recorded its first transaction made by an AI agent in 2025, and American Express released tools for agent-led purchases in April 2026. McKinsey estimates agent-led commerce could drive as much as US$5 trillion in global retail revenue by 2030.
One reality check: McKinsey rates agentic AI at stage 3 of 5, “piloting”. Most organisations are still testing it, and reliability remains a real issue.
Why it matters for wellness
Imagine a guest telling their phone, “Book me a 90-minute massage near my hotel on Saturday afternoon, under $250.” The agent doesn’t scroll Instagram or admire your website photos. It looks for clear, readable facts: what you offer, how long, how much, and when you’re free. If it can’t find them on your site, it moves on to another site it can read.
What we’d do now
- Run the test. Ask ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity to find and book the kind of service you sell in your area. Do you come up? Is the information right?
- Get your menu out of PDFs and images. Treatment names, durations and prices should be plain text on your website.
- Show live availability online. If your booking system offers real-time online booking, switch it on. Ask your provider what they’re doing about AI agents.
- Keep your listings consistent. Your website, Google Business Profile and booking platforms should all say the same thing.
None of this costs much, and all of it helps with human customers today.
2. Cameras are moving onto people’s faces, including in your change rooms
What McKinsey found
For years, virtual reality headsets were too heavy and too awkward for everyday life. That’s changed. The new wave is lightweight AI smart glasses that look like ordinary eyewear but carry cameras, microphones and an AI assistant.
Global smart-glasses shipments jumped 167% year on year in the first quarter of 2026, and Meta sold more than seven million AI glasses in 2025. Google has announced its own AI glasses, and Apple reportedly shelved its next headset to focus on glasses instead. McKinsey says this new generation has “crossed the wearability threshold”, meaning people can comfortably wear them all day.
Why it matters for wellness
Wellness spaces are some of the most private places people go. Think change rooms, bathhouses, saunas, treatment rooms and group classes. A guest in smart glasses might simply be wearing their prescription lenses. They might also be recording, without anyone around them knowing.
Most house rules say “no phones in wet areas”. Few say anything about glasses. And because these look like normal eyewear, staff may not even notice them.
What we’d do now
- Update your house rules to cover any camera-enabled device, not just phones.
- Brief your team on what these glasses look like and how to raise it kindly with a guest. Most people won’t be doing anything wrong.
- Offer a simple fix, like secure storage at reception, so guests aren’t asked to choose between seeing and following the rules.
- Check your obligations. Privacy and surveillance laws vary between jurisdictions, so get advice if you’re unsure where you stand.
3. Don’t believe the robot hype, at least not yet
What McKinsey found
Robotics is one of the fastest-growing trends in the report. McKinsey estimates AI-powered robots and machines could create at least US$1 trillion in economic value by 2040. But it says most of that value will come from manufacturing and logistics, not from customer-facing settings.
On hospitality, McKinsey is blunt. Large-scale rollouts of general-purpose robots in homes, public spaces and “hospitality settings” are “further away”, and hospitality is “advancing more gradually” than other sectors. The gap between impressive demos and robots that work reliably day in, day out “remains wide”. The hard problems are cost, uptime, dexterity and safety.
Why it matters for wellness
You’ll see robotic massage demos and humanoid receptionists at trade shows and on social media. Some are clever. By all means use them for cleaning, but few are ready to run in a busy spa or studio, reliably and at a price that pays back.
Wellness is built on human touch, judgement and care. Robots handling dexterous, hands-on work with people is one of the hardest problems in the field, and McKinsey’s own analysis says it’s some way off.
What we’d do now
- Be a sceptical buyer. Before investing in robotics, ask for real-world uptime, maintenance costs and payback data, not just a demo video.
- Look backstage first. If robots help you anywhere soon, it’s likely to be repetitive behind-the-scenes work like cleaning and moving linen or supplies, not the guest experience.
- Invest in your people. If anything, this is a reminder that skilled, caring practitioners are your competitive edge.
4. The science is speeding up, and so is the evidence bar
What McKinsey found
McKinsey says life sciences have “moved past the hype phase”. Gene editing, AI-driven drug discovery and precision diagnostics are moving from the lab into real treatment. In one early study, a single gene-editing infusion lowered cholesterol markers in people with a rare inherited condition.
But the report’s key message is caution: “the real test is execution.” AI can now propose new drug candidates much faster than before, yet it can’t speed up the trials and validation that follow. On new diagnostic tests, McKinsey says the question is no longer whether they can be built, but “whether they can be reimbursed, interpreted, and tied to clinical decisions.”
Why it matters for wellness
McKinsey is talking about clinical medicine, not consumer wellness. But the lesson carries straight over to the fast-growing worlds of longevity, biomarker testing and data-led wellness programs.
Your clients will hear more about this science and expect more from it. Some will arrive with test results and ask what to do. Better-informed clients will also look harder at what you claim. A test result without expert interpretation and a clear next step is just a number. And a claim without evidence is a risk to your business and your reputation.
What we’d do now
- Check your claims. Can you back up every health benefit on your menu and website? If not, reword it.
- Know your line. Be clear where wellness ends and medical care begins, and refer on when a client needs a clinician.
- Partner, don’t pretend. If you offer testing or longevity programs, work with qualified practitioners who can interpret results properly.
This is also why evidence and honest claims sit at the heart of the standards ASWELL is developing for our industry.
5. AI is making cyberattacks faster, and you hold sensitive data
What McKinsey found
McKinsey says “the cyber defense window has compressed.” Businesses used to have days or weeks to fix a security weakness before attackers could exploit it. Today, more than three-quarters of vulnerabilities are “zero day”, meaning attackers already have a way to exploit them by the time they’re made public. AI is helping defenders, but it’s helping attackers just as much.
The report also warns that AI agents create new risks of their own. Every agent you connect to your systems is another set of digital keys that could be stolen or misused.
Why it matters for wellness
Wellness businesses hold some of the most personal data there is: health questionnaires, medical conditions, body measurements, payment details and contact information. Many are small operators who rely on off-the-shelf booking and payment software, with no IT team. That makes them attractive and easy targets.
A data breach doesn’t just cost money. In an industry built on trust, it can cost you your clients.
What we’d do now
- Turn on automatic updates for your devices and software, so security fixes go in fast.
- Use multi-factor authentication on every system that holds client data, especially email and booking platforms.
- Collect less. Only ask for the health information you actually need, and delete what you no longer use.
- Be careful with AI tools. Before connecting any AI assistant to your client records, understand exactly what it can see and do.
- Know your obligations. Check what privacy law requires of you, especially if you handle health information.
The nine trends you can park (for now)
The other nine trends are real and important, but most wellness operators don’t need to act on them this year. Here’s our quick take.
| McKinsey trend | Why you can park it |
| Agentic software development | Changes how software is built. You’ll feel it through better, cheaper tools from your providers. |
| AI for scientific discovery and engineering | Speeds up research labs. It reaches you later, through new products and ingredients. |
| AI infrastructure and model architectures | The engine room behind AI. One to watch: McKinsey notes AI data centres are already pushing up power prices in some regions, which matters for energy-hungry spas and thermal facilities. |
| Application-specific semiconductors | Specialised AI chips. Important for tech giants, not for treatment rooms. |
| Advanced connectivity | Faster networks and satellite internet. Useful for remote retreats, but no action needed now. |
| Quantum technologies | Still years from everyday business use. |
| Future of mobility | Driverless vehicles and new transport. Relevant mainly to wellness real estate and destination planning. |
| Future of space technologies | Satellites and launch. No direct link to wellness yet. |
| Future of energy and sustainability technologies | Worth a look for property owners planning big upgrades, such as heat pumps, solar and batteries. |
“Park” doesn’t mean ignore forever. It means don’t let these distract you from the five that matter now.
The bigger lesson: rewire, don’t bolt on
One idea runs through the whole report. McKinsey says the biggest gains from AI come “not from layering agents onto existing processes but from redesigning workflows.” Organisations are racing to adopt new technology “without any proven road maps”, and making it work “requires rewiring operational models from the inside out.”
For wellness, that means buying a shiny new tool won’t move the needle on its own. What matters is rethinking how your business runs around it: how guests find and book you, how your team spends their time, and how you protect the trust clients place in you.
That’s hard for any single business to work out alone. It’s harder still in an industry as broad as ours, where a day spa, a fitness studio, a longevity clinic and a wellness developer each see a different piece of the picture.
That’s exactly why ASWELL exists. As a cross-industry association, we can pool what our members are learning, share what works and what doesn’t, and set clear standards so our whole industry moves forward together, rather than one business at a time.
Over to you. Which of these five trends is already showing up in your business? Tell us, and join us at ASWELL to help shape how Australasian wellness responds.
Source
McKinsey & Company, Technology Trends Outlook 2026 (September 2026), by Michael Chui, Roger Roberts and Tanguy Catlin. All figures and quotes are from this report. Interpretation and recommendations are ASWELL’s own.