17 Predictions for 2025: The Year AI Gets Personal (and Weird)

From Synthetic Influencers to AI Weddings—How Machines Are Becoming Our Creators, Colleagues, and Confidants

Pour yourself another glass of champagne—these 17 predictions might make you need it. Why 17? Because that’s how many I found I had when I wrote them out. So here’s what’s coming in 2025, why it makes sense these are on the horizon, all grouped around four major trend lines that we’ll see play out throughout the year. Have fun and happy new year!

I’ll note I’ve stayed away from obvious stuff, like AI continues to grow exponentially in intelligence, or we see tremendous competition on intelligence from open-source model makers. This all seems very obvious.

2025 Trend 1: AI Spawns a New Social Order

Not quite “Minority Report”, more like a weird AI “Bachelor”

1. AI Creators Come Out of the Closet

Specific hot take: We’ll see several very popular out AI OnlyFans accounts in 2025.

It wasn’t too long ago—2024, in fact—when using AI to generate art, text, or music was something you kept under wraps. Creators who dabbled with AI tools might have done so quietly, fearing backlash from fans who value “authentic” human craft. But 2025 is the year all of that changes. Creators are finally stepping into the spotlight with zero shame, proudly proclaiming, “Yes, I’m an AI artist/writer/musician—and that’s awesome.” Spotify, for instance, has no plans to ban AI music that’s racking up 100’s of thousands of streams.

It’s not just about admitting AI involvement. Many of these new creators are jumping onto social platforms and building massive followings almost overnight. There’s something inherently disturbing about discovering that your favorite new musician is an AI, or that the mesmerizing visuals you’ve been seeing on social media were conjured by a neural network trained on thousands of art styles. But it’s a feeling we’ll get used to in 2025. These AI-native influencers will soon be more influential than many human influencers. Why? Because digital folks work around the clock, they always have a new creative spin, and they can churn out mesmerizing content at an inhuman rate.

Accompanying this shift, “AI-native” creative agencies start popping up. They don’t hide the fact that they’re using AI. Instead, it’s a selling point. Their mission statements often read, “Unleashing AI’s Full Potential for the Best Creative Solutions.” Every day, more and more companies become intrigued by the cost savings and near-limitless creative capacity. Agencies that combine human expertise and AI muscle end up producing truly mind-bending campaigns—stuff that defies the usual design tropes because it’s driven by generative systems. And so, the marketing pitch evolves from “we can do it cheaper” to “we can do it wilder, smarter, and faster.”

2. Your Feed Goes Synthetic

Specific hot take: More than 50% AI content in Insta feeds by YE 2025.

By the time the summer of 2025 rolls around, your average social media feed will be brimming with AI-produced content—and you might not even be able to tell the difference. The whole “is this real or AI-generated?” question will become less relevant. Oddly, many people stop caring altogether, so long as the content is entertaining, insightful, or beautiful. Meta is certainly betting on that.

Ironically, the most captivating “AI-generated” posts won’t be 100% AI. They’ll be true collaborations between human creators and specialized AI models that develop an entirely new aesthetic. We’re talking about imagery that blends impressionist and hyperrealistic styles or music that crosses genre boundaries without blinking. It’s the synergy that becomes the star—like a duet where both voices are so different yet weave together seamlessly to create something brand-new.

But as always, there’s a backlash brewing. Pockets of the internet will insist on “pure human” content. Just like “organic” or “non-GMO” labels on food, you’ll start seeing posts proudly stamped “human-made,” as if to say “no AI touched this.” The debates get heated: Should everything AI-assisted be labeled as such? Some say it’s about transparency, others argue it’s unnecessary gatekeeping. Prepare for extended arguments on message boards and in comment threads. But we’re used to that on the internet!