Thanksgiving, which takes place today in the U.S., marks the beginning of a time to reflect on the events of 2025. The advances in AI, changes in politics, and boosts to digital sovereignty have been remarkable and will shape the future ahead of us and for the generations to come.
Already, unrestrained AI, increasing espionage, and forced cloud integration are threatening to lock us into a world where AI, mega corporations, and authoritarian governments are trying to control us through the use of technology.
Yet, humanity is fighting back. 2025 brought an increased adoption of open-source solutions, where each of us remains in control of the technology. It got digital sovereignty from a niche government topic into the mainstream. It shattered the rosy AI glasses and lit an increasing debate about the human, financial, and environmental costs of widespread AI deployments.
Yet, it is upon all of us to define the way we want technology and society to develop in the future. Not making a choice and not forming an opinion means accepting that someone else will make this choice for you. Thus, let us examine what 2025 brought us and what the future may hold.
Never Stop Learning
Returning readers of my blog may have noticed that this year, there is no picture of me running in the Turkey Trot. This Thanksgiving brought an educational opportunity too good to pass up. In the U.S., all fourth graders get a pass to visit the National Parks. Thus, we are taking the opportunity to learn more about the cultural heritage and national beauty.
Learning and education in themselves have come increasingly into focus this year. The rise of AI has sparked a renewed debate about the value of learning and the risk of cheating yourself out of opportunities by using AI to complete your homework. Today, technology plays a dominant role in our education system to the point where incoming Ivy League students have never read an entire book or possibly held a physical book.
Yet, this development isn’t new. It is the culmination of years of educational policy, lobbying, and a focus on technology that overlooked individual learning in favor of new, inclusive solutions.
However, what is new is the backlash. With AI, we finally have a technology that professors can criticize without upsetting the system that produced the underlying conditions. It allows educators to rage against a billion-dollar machine without disturbing the trillion-dollar system that pays their salary.
Yet, it leaves one question unanswered: Are we learning for class or for life? If we are only learning for class, professors would be justified in being upset with their students. They are not learning the class material. If we are learning for life, then professors should examine themselves and ask whether they have designed an environment where the best solution is to utilize AI, and how to modify their classes so that AI isn’t the suitable answer.
Taking Opportunities – The Power To Make Changes
Yet, the power and opportunity to make changes went beyond the education sector this year. The combination of AI, the sunsetting of Windows 10, and U.S. politics has given open-source software and digital sovereignty an unprecedented boost. The International Criminal Court’s switch away from Microsoft 365 to OpenDesk is still fresh in everyone’s mind as of the writing of this post. Yet, we must admit that all the technology for this change has been available for years. Only the increasing pressure from the Trump administration on Microsoft, which in turn blocked the prosecutor of the ICC from accessing their emails, made the political cost of being dependent on proprietary software and the cloud apparent.
Thus, finally, the danger of dependency outweighs the inertia of not changing. While the backend of the internet has always run on open-source software, free software is now making its way to the end user. It took the combination of external pressure, technical readiness, and political will to do so, yet the change seems unstoppable. In particular, the global aspect of the shift from Canada to the EU and Malaysia suggests that digital sovereignty may become an international movement. However, it is on all of us to sustain the movement and protect our independence from being dominated by technology.
People Matter When The World Changes
Independence from technology could also serve as the slogan for the backlash AI is currently facing. Between AI layoffs, lost educational opportunities, and the erosion of intellectual property on one side, and the concentration of wealth, environmental destruction, and misinformation on the other, AI is quickly losing its shine.
Yet, looking beyond the billion-dollar moonshots of big tech, many start-ups have developed solutions that improve our lives. Whether it is getting personalized coaching at affordable prices[*] or allowing us to focus on customer needs and personal connections[*], many smaller providers are making our lives better. However, they command significantly less marketing hype and receive considerably less funding than the big names. Yet, for every dollar OpenAI and Alphabet spend on their losing proposition of building GenAI, a smaller enterprise builds a working solution.
Apart from scale, a significant difference is that these companies are prioritizing human experiences and expectations in their products. This focus sets them apart from the mindless chatbots that compete with other time-wasting online activities. Thus, most of them provide long-term benefits and a stable basis for individuals and society to grow and reach new heights.
Listen To Advice, Question Commands
Long-term benefits have also been a key factor in my career progression. This year, I had the immense pleasure of advising some exceptional start-ups and helping them reach new heights. Yet, in some cases, this has also been an exercise in patience. Finding the right balance between giving advice and issuing commands is not always easy. Yet, when working with others, it is often better for long-term development to soften the fall and let them discover some parts of the pain on their own than to issue a command and ensure they are precisely following the path you have laid out in your mind.
Thus, whether as an advisor or a mentor, I have dedicated this year to enabling myself and others to grow and make the changes needed to build better businesses, stronger connections, and a brighter future. I can already see some of the fruits of that labor and am convinced that there will be more to come.
We Must Change – There Is No Backup Planet
Ultimately, change is inevitable. Whether it is in the push to make lifelong learning more affordable, in promoting digital sovereignty and open-source as the basis of independent decision-making, or when giving advice to start-ups, we cannot rely on the world remaining constant. Neither can we remain static in this world. We ourselves must learn, grow, and make the necessary changes for ourselves, our families, and humanity to flourish in the years to come.
Yet, in all the growth coming, we should not forget that there is a world outside of ourselves. Despite all claims, we only have one planet and one humanity. Let us ensure that we build a future that future generations can enjoy by directing our growth toward beneficial pathways. While it may require a change in our outlook on the world, technology, and ourselves, it will be worthwhile for a better tomorrow.
* I am an Investor in these companies. However, these opinions are my own and not compensated.
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