Deep Questions with Cal Newport · 2026-01-05 · 143 min · 28,860 words

Ep 386: Was 2025 a Great or Terrible Year for AI? (w/ Ed Zitron)

Listen to the original audio · Transcribed with NVIDIA Parakeet · Timestamps stay in sync with the live audio

So much happened in the world of AI in 2025 that it can actually be hard to keep track of it all. I mean, remember Deep Seek? That was in 2025. As was Dario Amade saying that we were going to lose half of white-collar jobs to AI as well as GPT-5's release. The release of Sora, AI looking like the best investment ever, followed by AI being described as a giant bubble that was going to bring down the economy, followed by that bubble being described as actually not being so bad.

This was also the year where Nvidia CEO Jensen Wong took the stage in a conference wearing a jacket that, well, I'll be honest, uh looks like it came from the prop department from a Mad Max movie. Jesse, let's put this on the screen here. I mean, dude, you're a computer scientist. You're wearing a racer jacket. I love it.

I'm here for it. What I'm trying to say is a lot happened in the world of AI in the year that just ended. And the key question that I've been grappling with is, did this year end up being a great year for AI? Or a terrible one. I would believe either answer, and so much happened, it could be really hard to try to keep it all straight.

That is the first couple of minutes. The rest is $1.

We already have this episode, so unlocking it is cheap and permanent: the full transcript (143 minutes, 28,860 words), segment and word-level timestamps, and .txt, .srt, .vtt and word-level JSON downloads, as many times as you like, forever.

No account needed, we create one from your checkout email. With credits it is 1 credit; packs start at 10 episodes for $5, and monthly plans are cheaper still.

get it now

Ready in about two minutes.

Pay once, no subscription. Credits never expire.

Transcribing every week? Monthly plans start at $9, about 23 cents an episode.

Secure checkout by Stripe. No account needed: we create one from your email. By paying you agree to the terms.