The Vergecast 2025 year in review | The Vergecast

Quick Overview

The Vergecast hosts David Pierce, Joanna Stern, and Neil Patel conduct their 2025 year-in-review by first litigating their 2024 predictions, revealing Joanna led with 12 correct calls, and then assigning yearbook superlatives for 2025, naming Google Gemini the most surprising success story and the entire concept of AI agents as the biggest failure of the year.

Key Points: Joanna Stern won the 2024 prediction contest for 2025 with 12 correct answers, while David Pierce and Neil Patel each scored 11 correct predictions. The prediction that "the government is breaking up one of the big tech companies" was ruled 'no' for 2025, as major legal cases did not result in a breakup by year-end. The hosts unanimously agreed that Google Gemini was the 'most surprising success story of 2025,' noting competitors like OpenAI are now terrified and declaring a 'code red' to catch up. The 'biggest failure of the year' was conceptually agreed upon as the 'entire concept of agents,' with hosts citing poor execution across various products, comparing them to having 'an intern who sucks.' The iPhone 17 Pro was selected as the 'gadget of the year' by Joanna Stern and David Pierce, though David also championed the M4 Mac Mini as the 'best deal in the history of computers' and the Switch 2 as a strong contender. The 'worst new buzzword of the year' was debated between 'agentic' and 'vibe,' with the hosts ultimately agreeing that 'vibe'—as in 'vibe shopping'—was the most irritating term. The 'best AI thing of 2025' was split between AI web search, which has settled into daily use for many, and a specific Suno AI cover of Rage Against the Machine's 'Killing in the Name,' cited as a leading indicator for the music industry's future.

Context: The Vergecast episode features hosts David Pierce, Joanna Stern, and Neil Patel engaging in their annual tradition of reviewing the past year, specifically looking back at predictions made for 2025 based on discussions from the previous year. The discussion begins with an audit of those predictions to determine a winner before moving into 'yearbook superlatives' for 2025, covering topics like successes, failures, gadgets, and AI developments across the tech landscape.