What 2025 Taught Me About AI
2025 was the year the pace of AI change became impossible to ignore. Whether it’s stock market bubble talk, new model breakthroughs, agentic tools, or the infrastructure spending behind it all, one thing is clear: the pace of change is accelerating, and it feels like we are just getting started. For me, 2025 was the year AI went from interesting to unavoidable, and it pushed me to learn in public by building content that strengthened my own foundation while helping others start theirs.
Since launching in September, this community has grown to over 100 subscribers, and I’m genuinely grateful for the support along the way. Over the last few days, I’ve been reflecting on the journey, celebrating the wins and being honest about the challenges. The lessons I learned in 2025 gave me the foundation to sharpen what I’m building and show up with more confidence in 2026. I want to share these lessons to help you build your own confidence, stay curious, and set yourself up for what’s coming in 2026.
Lesson 1: Discomfort is the tuition for AI fluency
I had no idea how AI actually worked when I started to get serious in late 2024. Most of the concepts were foreign, and like a lot of people, I was only using AI for fun. It was a basic chat here and there, a funny AI-generated photo for the group chat, or a question that could have been answered with a normal Google search. I had to adapt. If I wanted to get better, I had to get uncomfortable.
For me, that meant learning unfamiliar topics, trying tools that felt intimidating, and being willing to look a little clueless while I built in public. Only through reflection have I realized how important this was for building AI skills and knowledge. Every error or break forced me back into AI to troubleshoot and solve the problem. Each experiment with a new platform built skills I never thought I could develop. Every successful launch built my confidence and helped me find my voice.
Being uncomfortable is hard, but it is also where the learning happens. Acknowledge the discomfort, then set small goals that let you move at your own pace. One rep a week is better than sitting on the sidelines. I strongly believe AI will become a bigger part of everyday life, especially in the workplace. Those who lean into that challenge now will be set up for success in 2026 and beyond.
Lesson 2: AI is not magic, it is a system
It’s easy to be blown away by AI tools, no matter your level of expertise. Innovation is happening daily, and we get to benefit from the competition between the big labs. It’s exciting, but the wrong approach can build bad habits and quietly lower the quality of your outputs. I fell into the same trap a lot of people fall into when they first start using AI. I honestly thought magic was happening behind the scenes. I assumed any prompt would produce the output I had in my head. Only through practice, learning, and a few slices of humble pie did I start to realize these tools are systems. Like any other system, there are rules and constraints you need to follow to get high-quality output.
That realization pushed me to learn how LLMs actually work, so I could create better content for the newsletter. I built a simple system that treated AI like a partner by giving it clear instructions, goals, and context. Once you put this into practice, your outputs get better fast, and you start building real confidence in how you use AI.
Lesson 3: We are early, but change is coming
I spend a lot of time absorbing information to stay current with the trends shaping the AI world. I pull data points and opinions from a mix of places, including podcasts, news articles, and thought-provoking conversations with friends and colleagues. I was genuinely shocked when my Spotify Wrapped said I listened to more than 46,000 minutes of podcasts in 2025. I’d estimate at least half of that was directly related to AI or AI-adjacent topics. The more I learn, the more I believe the real impact of AI is still ahead, and that 2026 will lay the foundation for a very different world.
On the surface, there is plenty of evidence that suggests AI is already in a mature state. The big labs are pushing the boundaries of what is possible, and every new model release seems to break benchmarks set by the last one. So why do I feel strongly enough to say we are just getting started? The answer is the gap between consumer adoption and enterprise adoption. At home, you can discover a new tool and start using it the same day. At work, you are limited to whatever is approved and rolled out. It’s also easier to organize your own data and build personal workflows than it is for a large organization to modernize systems, clean up data, and wire everything together in a way that can support agentic workflows at scale. We are still early in this shift, even if the technology itself is moving fast.
Gartner predicts that 40% of enterprise applications will include task-specific AI agents by the end of 2026, up from less than 5% in 2025. If that happens, AI will stop feeling like an “initiative” and start feeling like the default way work gets done. That is why it feels imperative to take action now. Start simple by picking the biggest problem inside your role and working backward from the outcome you want. Look for the workflow underneath it, then use data to define what good looks like and where automation can actually help. Push for outcomes that deliver ROI, but also build trust and drive adoption responsibly. That mindset is how you stay ahead of the curve and become the person who helps your team navigate what comes next.
2025 taught me that AI rewards the people who stay curious and keep taking reps, even when it feels uncomfortable. The technology is moving fast, but the bigger shift is how quickly it is being woven into everyday life and the workplace. My goal going into 2026 is simple: keep learning in public, keep refining my systems, and keep sharing what works and what breaks along the way. If you take one thing from these lessons, let it be this: start small, stay consistent, and build the habits now that your future self will thank you for.