Arena Founder Anastasios Angelopoulos on AI Trends for 2026

"Gone are the days where one number can describe how good a model is." We sat down with Anastasios, founder of Arena, to discuss what real-world usage data reveals about how developers are choosing models in 2026—and why the landscape is more diverse than ever. Key Insights: → 2026 will bring massive model diversity: sizes, domains, specializations → Every frontier lab will have multiple major releases this year → Different models excel in different categories: math, coding, creative, multi-turn → 5-8% of LM Arena users are "unhirable experts"—PhD-quality professionals providing real-wor…