2025's biggest AI innovations, robots can now feel & more (December 31, 2025)

Good morning,

As 2025 wraps, AI’s momentum is shifting from hype to hardware, science, and serious capital allocation. Big money, big buildings, and big research breakthroughs are setting the tone for 2026.

Let’s dive in 👇

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🧠 Science, Products & What’s Actually Working

🔬 AI let’s robots feel physical touch

Researchers publishing in PNAS show AI systems achieving a meaningful leap in scientific reasoning and discovery workflows. The work highlights how models can assist hypothesis generation and evaluation, not just pattern matching. This is AI moving deeper into the scientific method itself.

🔬 2025’s biggest AI science breakthroughs

Axios breaks down the year’s most important AI-driven advances. Biology, chemistry, and materials science are seeing outsized gains. Consumer apps get attention, but science may see the biggest compounding returns.

🎙️ The best AI dictation apps of 2025

TechCrunch reviewed the top AI-powered dictation tools. Accuracy is now table stakes, while latency and workflow fit decide winners. Voice interfaces are quietly becoming reliable daily drivers.

💰 Money, Power & Infrastructure

🚀 SoftBank doubles down on OpenAI with $40B

SoftBank is reportedly in talks to make another $40B investment in OpenAI. The move reinforces SoftBank’s belief that frontier models remain foundational platforms, not short-term bets. It also signals confidence that compute-heavy AI economics still work at scale.

🏢 xAI keeps buying buildings

Elon Musk’s xAI has purchased a third building to expand its AI compute footprint. This is about power, cooling, and GPU density, not headcount. AI competition is increasingly constrained by physical infrastructure.

🏢 Enterprises will spend more, with fewer vendors

Venture capitalists predict enterprise AI budgets will rise in 2026, even as vendor counts shrink. Buyers want consolidation, reliability, and deeper platform integrations. The era of unchecked AI tool sprawl is ending.

🛠️ Tools of the Day

→ Creaibo – AI-powered creative generation for fast visual and content workflows.
→ Foundire – Helps founders validate ideas, positioning, and go-to-market strategy.
→ Vidcard – Create short video business cards for modern networking.

⚡ Quick Hits

→ AI bubble? Investors debate whether AI stock gains resemble a market bubble.
→ Cooling crunch threatens data centers as AI infrastructure demand surges.
→ SMBs adopt AI as one in four small business owners rely on AI tools.
→ Post-phone future emerges as tech leaders question what replaces smartphones.
→ New state laws regulate AI, elections, and workplace policies nationwide.

🧾 TL;DR

Capital is concentrating around foundational AI players while infrastructure becomes the limiting factor. Scientific breakthroughs show AI’s real leverage may be in research, not consumer novelty. As enterprises consolidate vendors, 2026 looks like the year AI grows up operationally.

See you in 2026,
David