For better or for worse, this year had it all—from the AI industry shaping the global economy and our lives, to the so-called Department of Government Efficiency taking over US federal agencies under Elon Musk’s leadership. In today’s episode, host Zoë Schiffer and executive editor Brian Barrett get together to reflect on some of this year’s key moments—and how they give us important clues as to what we can expect this upcoming year.
Articles mentioned in this episode:
- The AI Data Center Boom Is Warping the US Economy
- The US Needs an Open Source AI Intervention to Beat China
- DOGE Is the Deep State
- ICE Wants to Build Out a 24/7 Social Media Surveillance Team
- The FBI's Jeffrey Epstein Prison Video Had Nearly 3 Minutes Cut Out
You can follow Zoë Schiffer on Bluesky at @zoeschiffer and Brian Barrett on Bluesky at @brbarrett. Write to us at uncannyvalley@….com.
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Transcript
Note: This is an automated transcript, which may contain errors.
Zoë Schiffer: Welcome to …’s Uncanny Valley. I'm Zoë Schiffer, …'s director of business and industry. Today on the show, we're wrapping up our news episode series by reflecting on the trends and stories that shaped 2025. And who better to do that with than Brian Barrett, our executive editor who works tirelessly in the shadows?
Brian Barrett: Zoë, thank you. Thank you for having me. Happy to emerge from my shadowy lair.
Zoë Schiffer: From the dark, dark cave. Thank you.
Brian Barrett: What a year it's been, and I'm so excited for it to be almost over.
Zoë Schiffer: Oh, my gosh. Me too. OK. Because it's been quite a year news-wise, safe to say, especially in tech and politics. Honestly, it was a little bit tricky to pick which trends we should discuss today, but we settled on five stories that kind of encapsulate this year pretty well, and I think give us clues as to what is going to be unfolding in 2026. The first one that I want to talk about is dear to my heart, and it's about AI data centers. So we all know that the investment, the amount of money being spent on data centers is absolutely staggering, with companies like Meta, Google, and Microsoft tripling down on AI infrastructure spending this year. But it's not just about the money that's being spent. It's also about how that money is being invested and the domino effect that it's already having on the rest of the tech industry and honestly our entire economy.
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