The year 2025 saw significant growth and influence for artificial intelligence, with Owen Poole of Tech Today highlighting its powerful expansion and the legal cases shaping its future. Despite this rapid advancement, discussions around an "AI bubble" persist, with EMJ Capital President Eric Jackson comparing it to a "pizza bubble" while noting other market sectors like retail might be more concerning, using Nvidia's P/E ratios as an example. To foster trust in these abstract systems, AI companies are investing over $300 million in real-world advertising, including billboards and pop-up events. Google, for instance, showcased its Gemini AI at the Las Vegas Sphere, while Anthropic launched a "Keep Thinking" campaign for its Claude chatbot, featuring calm billboards and "thinking spaces" in New York and London that attracted thousands. Meanwhile, Tencent Hunyuan's 3D Digital Human team released HY-Motion 1.0, an open-weight model available on Hugging Face, capable of generating 3D human motion from text prompts using a one-billion-parameter Diffusion Transformer. The pervasive nature of AI also brings challenges, particularly with deepfakes. Syracuse University ROTC students are actively collaborating with the U.S. military to combat this, developing tools in their Synthetic Media Lab to distinguish real content from hoaxes, a project that began with a DARPA grant in 2020. Addressing broader risks, the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released a draft Cybersecurity Framework Profile for AI on December 16, 2025, aiming to help organizations manage AI-related cybersecurity risks and leverage AI for defense against threats like deepfakes. Beyond security, AI is reshaping various industries. Computer vision and AI are transforming security surveillance, moving past traditional CCTV to analyze video in real-time, detecting and predicting threats with models like YOLO and FaceNet. Looking ahead to 2026, generative AI is predicted to significantly alter SEO, leading to "Zero Click Discovery" where AI directly provides product information, potentially reducing website traffic. AI chat tools are also expected to increasingly replace traditional search for information and instructions, fundamentally changing how users interact with the internet.
Key Takeaways
- AI companies are spending over $300 million on "out-of-home" advertising to build trust and humanize AI systems.
- Google promoted its Gemini AI at the Las Vegas Sphere, while Anthropic's "Keep Thinking" campaign for Claude included billboards and "thinking spaces" in major cities.
- Tencent Hunyuan's 3D Digital Human team launched HY-Motion 1.0, an open-weight model on Hugging Face, which creates 3D human motion from text using a one-billion-parameter Diffusion Transformer.
- Syracuse University ROTC students are working with the U.S. military to develop tools for detecting AI deepfakes, a project supported by a DARPA grant since 2020.
- On December 16, 2025, NIST released a draft Cybersecurity Framework Profile for AI to help organizations manage risks and use AI for cyber defense against AI-enabled threats.
- Generative AI is predicted to cause "Zero Click Discovery" in SEO by 2026, where AI platforms provide direct answers, potentially reducing website traffic.
- AI chat tools are expected to increasingly replace traditional search engines for finding information and instructions by 2026.
- Computer vision and AI are transforming security surveillance, using models like YOLO and FaceNet for real-time threat detection and prediction.
- Eric Jackson of EMJ Capital compared the "AI bubble" to a "pizza bubble," highlighting Nvidia's P/E ratios in market discussions.
- Owen Poole of Tech Today reviewed 2025, noting the powerful growth of AI and its increasing influence, alongside significant legal cases.
AI Companies Use Real World Ads to Build Trust
AI companies are spending over $300 million on advertising, focusing on real-world "out-of-home" ads like billboards and pop-up events. This strategy aims to make abstract AI systems feel more human and trustworthy. For example, IBM promoted Watsonx at the U.S. Open, and Google showcased Gemini at the Las Vegas Sphere. Anthropic's "Keep Thinking" campaign for its Claude chatbot included calm billboards and "thinking spaces" in New York and London, drawing thousands of visitors. These efforts help companies like Cursor and Anthropic connect with people offline and build confidence in their AI products.
Tencent Launches HY-Motion 1.0 for 3D Human Motion
Tencent Hunyuan's 3D Digital Human team released HY-Motion 1.0, a new model that creates 3D human motion from text descriptions. This open-weight model uses a Diffusion Transformer architecture and has one billion parameters. It can turn simple text prompts into 3D animation clips for digital humans, movies, and games. Developers can find HY-Motion 1.0 and a lighter version, HY-Motion-1.0-Lite, on GitHub and Hugging Face. The model was trained using over 3,000 hours of various motion data, including videos and motion capture.
I Avoided AI Pop Music All Year
A columnist shares their experience of successfully avoiding AI-generated pop music throughout the year. Despite claims that AI music was everywhere, they found it easy to escape. The article mentions that journalists revealed details about this trend in July.
Tech Today Reviews 2025 AI Domination and Legal Wins
Owen Poole from Tech Today reviewed the most important technology stories of 2025. He highlighted the powerful growth of AI and its increasing influence. Poole also discussed important legal cases that will likely change the future of technology. Finally, he covered the newest and most exciting hardware released during the year.
ROTC Students Help Military Fight AI Deepfakes
ROTC students at Syracuse University are working with the U.S. military to fight against AI deepfakes. The university's Synthetic Media Lab creates fake media to develop tools that tell real content from hoaxes. This effort started in 2020 with a DARPA grant to combat fake news. Now, the lab has over 20 tools for detecting and creating deepfakes, a challenge made bigger by AI. ROTC students joined in 2021, gaining skills useful for military cyber jobs. Cadet Glenn Miller is even building a "me detector" to spot face swaps in video calls.
Three SEO Predictions for 2026
A long-time search engine optimizer predicts three major changes for SEO in 2026 due to generative AI. First, "Zero Click Discovery" means people will find products directly through AI without visiting websites, reducing traffic for businesses. Second, genAI platforms will likely start making money through ads, which could offer new ways to measure SEO success. Third, AI chat tools will increasingly replace traditional search for finding information and instructions. These shifts will continue to change how people use the internet and how businesses reach them.
Computer Vision Transforms Security Surveillance
Computer vision and AI are changing security surveillance systems, moving beyond old CCTV cameras. These new systems analyze video in real time to detect and even predict threats faster than humans. Computer Vision uses advanced technology like Convolutional Neural Networks to help cameras understand visual information. Specific models like YOLO and FaceNet identify objects and patterns. This technology offers 24/7 monitoring without human fatigue, high accuracy, and quick responses to potential dangers.
Eric Jackson Compares AI and Pizza Stock Bubbles
Eric Jackson, President of EMJ Capital, compared the "AI bubble" to a "pizza bubble" in a discussion on Yahoo Finance Live. He believes investors should be more concerned about a potential "big box retail bubble." Jackson used the P/E ratios of AI chip maker Nvidia and Domino's Pizza to illustrate his points. He noted that while many discuss an AI bubble, other market sectors like retail might be overlooked.
NIST Drafts Cybersecurity Rules for AI Systems
On December 16, 2025, the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST, released a draft of its Cybersecurity Framework Profile for Artificial Intelligence. This document helps organizations manage cybersecurity risks when using AI systems. It also identifies how AI can improve cyber defense and build protection against AI-enabled threats like deepfakes. NIST will host a workshop on January 14, 2026, and accepts public comments until January 30, 2026, to gather feedback on the draft.
Sources
- The Surprising Advertising Strategy AI Companies Are Investing in to Stand Out
- Tencent Released Tencent HY-Motion 1.0: A Billion-Parameter Text-to-Motion Model Built on the Diffusion Transformer (DiT) Architecture and Flow Matching
- Column | My year of not listening to AI-generated pop music
- 2025 Tech Rewind: AI Domination, the Rise of 'Slop' and Court Victories | Tech Today
- ROTC students are helping the military defend against AI deepfakes
- 3 SEO Predictions for 2026
- How Computer Vision is Redefining Security Surveillance Systems?
- AI bubble vs. the pizza bubble: Eric Jackson compares Nvidia, Domino's
- NIST Publishes Preliminary Draft of Cybersecurity Framework Profile for Artificial Intelligence for Public Comment
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