# The Vergecast 2025 year in review | The Vergecast Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnpNk6kWvVc Recap page: https://rapidrecap.app/video/QnpNk6kWvVc Generated: 2025-12-09T13:32:48.329+00:00 --- ## 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. ## Detailed Analysis The podcast opens by resolving their 2024 predictions for 2025, where Joanna Stern narrowly won, scoring 12 correct answers compared to 11 for David Pierce and Neil Patel. They litigated several points, confirming that no major tech breakup occurred in 2025, and that while the government won its monopoly cases against Google, no structural split resulted. The main segment shifted to 2025 superlatives: Google Gemini was celebrated as the biggest surprise success, while the pervasive promise of AI agents was universally declared the biggest failure due to lack of useful execution, often described as a 'drunk intern.' Gadget of the year discussions were surprisingly mundane, with the iPhone 17 Pro being praised for incremental improvements, leading to a debate over whether such predictable upgrades qualify. Conversely, the Switch 2 was lauded for successfully being a significantly better sequel. In AI discussions, 'agentic' and 'vibe' were slammed as the worst buzzwords, and while AI search was noted for daily utility (one host used ChatGPT to negotiate a car purchase), a specific AI-generated song cover was highlighted as the best and most significant signal of generative technology's trajectory, particularly its rapid impact on the music industry, while the Humane Ai Pin and similar screenless devices were categorized as the worst AI products due to being 'vaporware' or fundamentally flawed concepts. ### Prediction Litigation Results - Joanna Stern achieved 12 correct predictions for 2025, beating Neil Patel and David Pierce (both 11) - The question regarding a government breakup of a big tech company resulted in a 'no' because appeals delayed any potential structural changes past the end of 2025 - All three hosts correctly predicted OpenAI would be for-profit but not profitable. ### 2025 Superlatives - Most Surprising Success: Google Gemini, forcing competitors like OpenAI to declare a 'code red' - Biggest Failure: The concept of AI agents as a whole, which failed to deliver on promises of autonomous task completion - Startup of the Year Debate: Cursor was favored over 1X Neo (humanoid robots) and Anthropic (due to its massive scale). ### Gadget & AI Awards - Gadget of the Year (Practical): iPhone 17 Pro, praised for improved battery life in a smaller form factor - Gadget of the Year (Sequel Success): Nintendo Switch 2, which sold huge numbers and successfully delivered a better version of an already class-leading product - Worst AI Gadgets: The Humane Ai Pin and the Rabbit R1 were lumped together as 'humane pins' and vaporware, exemplified by the Friend being a 'paper weight.' ### Buzzwords and AI Impact - Worst New Buzzword: 'Vibe' (as in 'vibe shopping') narrowly beat 'Agentic' for being meaningless jargon - Best AI Thing: AI web search was lauded for integrating into daily search habits, though a specific AI-generated song cover was cited as the best 'signal of everything to come' for generative media.