The year 2025 will be remembered as a turning point in the history of artificial intelligence — a period in which the technology shifted from a promising concept to a transformative global force, impacting businesses, governments, science, and society in profound and often unexpected ways.
The consolidation of intelligent agents
One of the key technical trends of 2025 has been the evolution of so-called “AI agents” — systems capable of planning, reasoning, and executing complex tasks with increasing autonomy. Unlike models that merely respond to individual requests, these agents have been integrated into corporate operations and business workflows, moving from experimental tools to productive functions supporting customer service, IT automation, and workflow management in large organisations. It is already estimated that by 2026, up to 30% of repetitive knowledge tasks may be automated by these agents.
Growth and tensions in the global AI market
In economic terms, 2025 was a year of massive investment and growing concern. The so-called “AI boom” drove megadeals, record funding for start-ups, and intensified competition for talent. AI start-ups captured more than half of all global venture capital investment in technology, while major companies invested over US$400 billion in data centres and AI infrastructure to support increasingly complex and computationally demanding models.
However, this accelerated growth also fuelled debate about a potential AI bubble, with concerns that inflated valuations and uncontrolled competition could trigger a market correction.
Governance, safety, and ethics
Parallel to technological expansion, global voices intensified discussions on how AI should be regulated and used safely. The first International AI Safety Report — the result of collaboration between experts from around 96 countries — was published in January 2025, offering in-depth assessments of risks and best practices for mitigating control and reliability issues.
In addition, major international gatherings brought together political leaders, researchers, and industry representatives to discuss public policy on AI. One example was the AI Action Summit, held in Paris in February, which brought together more than 1,000 participants from over 100 countries to debate innovation, safety, and social impact.
Transformative applications
AI in 2025 was not restricted to text and image generation. In science, AI-based tools continued to revolutionise fields such as biology and medicine, with advanced systems like AlphaFold 3, which expanded predictive capabilities of biological structures and is now used by millions of scientists worldwide.
Another driver of transformation was the emergence of multimodal and vision-language-action (VLA) models, such as Helix and Gemini Robotics, capable of interpreting and acting in the physical world through vision, language, and motor control — a significant step in the relationship between digital intelligence and robotics.
Large-scale adoption and everyday use
The effects of the technology also reached everyday life and business environments. The use of generative AI in practical applications — from code optimisation to content creation and business process automation — continued to grow. Usage reports showed that, in 2025, people incorporated AI tools into activities ranging from professional work to routine operations.
This widespread adoption reinforces that AI is no longer confined to research labs or IT departments, but has become an integral part of how companies, governments, and individuals operate, collaborate, and make decisions.
Challenges and reflections
Despite remarkable progress, 2025 also highlighted ongoing challenges. Debates surrounding model bias, data privacy, labour market impact, energy consumption in infrastructure, and digital sovereignty have gained prominence in academic, governmental, and corporate forums — including in Brazil, where events such as Inova IA 2025 discussed the role of technology in education and research.
Furthermore, intelligence agencies have warned about the malicious use of AI in sensitive contexts such as elections, demonstrating that no matter how powerful the technology becomes, it still demands governance and constant vigilance.
In 2025, artificial intelligence cemented its role as a central technology of global transformation — not only through technical advances, but through its mass adoption, governance debates, and its ability to reshape markets, institutions, and human relationships. While it opened new frontiers in efficiency, creativity, and research, it also placed ethical, social, and economic questions firmly on the table — issues that will continue to shape its development in the years to come.
