Reflecting on 2025 (the K-shaped economy, AI's impact on work and human judgement, energy bottlenecks)
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About this episode
Welcome to Exponential View, the show where I explore how exponential technologies such as AI are reshaping our future. I've been studying AI and exponential technologies at the frontier for over ten years. Each week, I share some of my analysis or speak with an expert guest to make light of a particular topic.
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What made 2025 special?
In this episode, I reflect on the past year and what it revealed: a K-shaped divide. On one track, AI models are now doing hours of high quality work, improving at exponential pace, and shifting how we work from doing to judging. On the other, organisations and the broader economy are struggling to keep up. Stay to the end for my seasonal film recommendation.
I cover:
(00:00) Intro
(00:45) The state of tool usage in 2025
(6:10) The gap between AI progress and organizational adoption
(9:53) AI’s shockingly rapid revenue growth
(11:17) The biggest mistake smart people make with AI
(14:14) The inescapable need for physical infrastructure
(16:06) What everyone was asking in 2025
(18:08) The new winners of the AI economy
(20:48) Why “K” is the letter of 2025
(24:08) Seasonal movie recommendation
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Where to find me:
Exponential View newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azhar/
Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem
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Production and research: Chantal Smith and Marija Gavrilov.
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