Looking ahead in 2025

A robot celebrating the arrival of 2025… ominously

Happy New Year! 🎉

If you’ve made it this far into 2025 without hearing the phrase “AI is the new electricity” at least once, congratulations. But as we charge forward into the future, I think this is the year we step back and ask some bigger questions.

The rapid growth and adoption of AI tools bring us to the brink of profound shifts—not just technological but deeply philosophical. Here are some thoughts for the future:

1️⃣ A Renaissance of Meaning

People will step back from day-to-day drudgery and get more philosophical about what it means to be human. As AI systems take on more tasks and become increasingly capable, we’re forced to reflect: If we are no longer defined by work, what defines us? Creativity? Relationships? The pursuit of purpose?

Whether you think this shift is due to “silly AI hype” or something deeper, it’s a net positive to reflect on our humanity. Reassessing meaning and purpose might be the most human thing we’ve done in a while.

2️⃣ Progress in AI: Capability, UX, and the Privacy Trade-Off

AI applications will keep improving their base capability, but the product engineering and UX around them will keep improving, too - both will increase usefulness and adoption. Tools that once felt generic and clunky will deliver tailored, intuitive experiences.

But there’s a catch: AI gets better the more it knows about you. Want a perfectly tailored health plan? Bespoke financial advice? That requires sharing your data—habits, preferences, and even personal conversations.

This creates a stark trade-off: privacy versus performance. Opting out will feel like racing a Formula One car with a horse and cart. How much will we demand in return for our data, and can privacy-protecting solutions keep pace?

3️⃣ Robotics’ ChatGPT Moment

Do you think the hype around generative AI is big? Wait until robotics has its “ChatGPT moment”. We’ve seen robotics advance steadily over the years, but we could soon see robots leap into the mainstream.

Self-driving cars are a long-awaited transformation that will change and save lives. But the biggest (and least admitted) demand? Parenting robots and sex robots—two of the most emotionally charged, high-stakes areas of life. I hope they’ll be different robots, but I’m not sure they will…

4️⃣ Education Evolves (or at Least It Should)

Education is due for its moment of reckoning. Our “just-in-case” approach—teaching students things they might need someday—is woefully out of sync with the pace of change. Instead, we should embrace “just-in-time” learning, equipping people with the skills to adapt, think critically, and collaborate effectively.

Large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT could become the ultimate personal tutors, offering tailored guidance to every student. But the risk is that you’re most vulnerable to incorrect information when you’re learning. If we don’t teach collaboration and critical thinking first, we risk just automating worse education.

5️⃣ Governments Face the Economics of Automation

Governments have avoided conversations about automation’s impact for years, but they will soon (finally) take it seriously. For every time AI could help alleviate the pains of the NHS, there’s also potential for mass layoffs. This isn’t just an economic issue—it’s a social fabric issue, a fabric already feeling thin…

What happens when millions lose jobs and purpose? AI will speed up a trend that’s been bubbling under the surface for a while.

This is the moment for bold, imaginative policymaking. Anything less risks leaving large swathes of society behind.

6️⃣ Copyright, Creativity, and Context

One of 2025’s thorniest debates will be about creativity. AI doesn’t “create” as humans do—it absorbs and combines vast amounts of data. But is that so different from how people work? Artists draw inspiration from everything they see, hear, and experience. Does AI do the same? Maybe it just seems less… quaint?

If an AI listens to every song ever written and produces a hit single, who owns it? The programmer? The dataset? No one?

And while we argue those questions, AI will keep producing—not just music but films, books, and art that might rival the best humanity has to offer.

For better or worse, this is the year creativity gets messy—and with the improvements in rendering videos, real-time movie and game production might be closer than we think.

7️⃣ AI Goes Cosmic

AI is undoubtedly what will bring consciousness to the universe (let’s leave “what is consciousness” for another time). Machines can go where humans can’t—across vast stretches of space, into hostile environments, helping us colonise the galaxy.

What if AI becomes the vessel for preserving and sharing human culture across the stars? AI isn’t just a tool; it could be the legacy we send out into the universe.

8️⃣ Defining AGI: A Moving Target

Finally, let’s talk about Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). If you’re waiting for a clear definition of AGI this year, don’t hold your breath. The goalposts will keep shifting as popular culture and mainstream exposure clash with academic history.

Terms like AGI mean one thing in academic papers, another in tech circles, and something entirely different on social media. As AI systems get better at tasks once thought to require “general” intelligence, the lines will blur even further. For me, it’s always about the learning potential instead of the performance. In narrow examples, we already have superhuman capability, but what about a machine that could learn to solve any problem by just pointing it at it?

Looking Ahead

2025 will be a year of growth—technological, philosophical, and creative. The challenges are real, but so are the opportunities. AI might not have all the answers yet, but it’s pushing us to ask the right questions. And that, more than anything, is what excites me about the year ahead.

So, what do you think?