Practical AI · January 9, 2026 · 55m

AI in 2025: What Really Mattered

Chris and Daniel break down what really mattered in AI in 2025 and what to expect in 2026, exploring the rise of agents, multimodal AI, and reasoning models.

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Canon

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The hedonic treadmill of AI capabilities — reasoning models feel normal already

Reasoning models that seemed revolutionary when o1 launched feel like standard infrastructure by late 2025. The capability treadmill prevents lasting appreciation of genuine breakthroughs.

Claude ChatGPT Gemini

Highlights

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2025 was the year practical AI overtook research AI in importance

Whitenack argues that 2025 was the inflection point where practical deployment mattered more than research breakthroughs. The limiting factor shifted from model capability to deployment infrastructure.

Claude ChatGPT Gemini

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