What Surprised Us Most In 2025

In this episode of The Light Cone, the hosts and a guest discuss the surprising trends and developments in the AI landscape of 2025. They explore the shift in preferred LLMs at YC, with Anthropic surpassing OpenAI, and the rise of Gemini. The conversation covers the stabilization of the AI economy, the potential AI bubble, and the increasing interest in building smaller, domain-specific models. They also touch on the infrastructure challenges, such as data center buildup and power generation, and the evolution of AI applications, including vibe coding. The speakers reflect on the balance between AI-driven efficiency and the rising expectations of customers, and debate whether AI will lead to smaller teams or simply enable faster growth.