EP38: 2025 Year in Review, A Look Back at Our 2025 AI Predictions, The Reasoning Revolution
The Family History AI Show
Family Tree Diagrams: Possible but Impractical
Mark and Steve note progress using Gemini and Nano Banana for family tree images, but it's still unreliable for most users.
Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little present a special year-end episode, comparing their 2025 AI predictions to what actually unfolded in 2025. This episode is a great review of the top AI advancements in 2025!
The hosts examine which predictions hit the mark, including the agentic AI hype cycle, plummeting AI costs driven by DeepSeek, and the dethroning of OpenAI as the top AI model. They also explore predictions that proved partially accurate, such as the shift to local language models and the adoption of AI in social media.
Mark and Steve have a good laugh over their biggest misses, including breakthroughs in text-in-image generation, image restoration, and vibe coding. They highlight how reasoning models were the transformative force behind nearly every major AI advancement in 2025.
The episode closes with a preview of next week's 2026 predictions episode.
Timestamps:
03:30 Agents, Agents, Everywhere: Deep Research and Agentic Browsers
09:49 Cost of AI Drops Like a Rock: DeepSeek Disrupts the Market
12:26 OpenAI Dethroned: Gemini and Anthropic Rise
18:46 Local Language Models
23:54 AI Invades Social Media
28:24 AI-Enhanced Writing: From Grammar Checking to Ghost Writers
32:30 Family Tree Diagrams: Possible But Not Practical
36:03 Handwriting Recognition: Reasoning Improves Results
38:01 Reasoning Models: 2025’s Most Important Advancement
41:31 Text in Images: A Solved Problem
45:05 Image Restoration: Breakthroughs and Responsibilities
51:02 Vibe Coding: Speaking Software Into Being
Resource Links:
Register for a Class with the Family History AI Show Academy
https://tixoom.app/fhaishow
Agentic AI
Agentic AI In-Depth Report 2025
https://hblabgroup.com/agentic-ai-in-depth-report/
Perplexity's New AI-First Browser Kicks Off Agentic Applications
https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenwolfepereira/2025/07/11/perplexitys-new-ai-first-browser-is-kicking-off-agentic-applications/
Cost of AI
State of AI in 10 Charts
https://hai.stanford.edu/news/ai-index-2025-state-of-ai-in-10-charts
Free AI Tools 2025
https://thehumanprompts.com/free-ai-tools-2025-platforms/
OpenAI Dethroned
Geoffrey Hinton says Google is 'beginning to overtake' OpenAI
https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-godfather-geoffrey-hinton-google-overtaking-openai-2025-12
Local AI Hardware
Assessing the On-Device Artificial Intelligence (AI) Opportunity
https://www.qualcomm.com/content/dam/qcomm-martech/dm-assets/documents/assessing-the-on-device-ai-opportunity.pdf
Family Tree Diagrams
Explore how powerful AI image editing can support advanced creative workflows.
https://deepmind.google/models/gemini-image/pro/
Text in Images
Nano Banana Pro Review: Is Google's AI Image Generator Too Good?
https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/google-nano-banana-pro-ai-image-generator-review/
Vibe Coding
No code, big dreams
https://www.businessinsider.com/non-technical-people-vibecoding-lessons-ai-apps-2025-9
Image Restoration
Responsible AI Photo Restoration
https://makingfamilyhistory.com/responsible-ai-photo-restoration/
Protecting Trust in Historical Images
https://craigen.org/protecting-trust-in-historical-images/
Tags:
Artificial Intelligence, Genealogy, Family History, AI Predictions, Reasoning Models, DeepSeek, Gemini, Image Restoration, Vibe Coding, Agentic AI
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