Nano Banana blew up, agents fell short – here’s the full AI story from 2025 (www.techradar.com)

In 2025, the AI landscape saw significant developments, including the launch of Google's Nano Banana image generator and the DeepSeek R1 model from China, which presented a cost-effective alternative to ChatGPT for developers. The anticipation for a breakthrough in Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) did not materialize, although established players like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google continued to push forward in AI applications. OpenAI faced challenges, including user dissatisfaction with the emotionally flat GPT-5 and legal issues, prompting a refocus on improving the core ChatGPT experience over expanding into intelligent agents. Despite notable releases, the much-anticipated emergence of AI agents capable of autonomous task completion fell short, as they still struggled with reliability. Companies like Google and Samsung advanced AI integration in mobile devices, while AI's inclusion became ubiquitous across products, with Microsoft leading in embedding AI features. Safety measures for users were prioritized by OpenAI in response to concerns around mental health implications from AI interactions. Overall, 2025 represented a steady evolution in AI, highlighting both its growing integration into everyday life and the ongoing challenges in achieving more advanced capabilities.