If 2023 was the year artificial intelligence announced itself, and 2024 was the year it started taking a starring role, then 2025 is the year AI grabbed the steering wheel. The technology is now shaping economic growth, powering stock markets, influencing politics, intensifying US China tensions, remaking creative industries, embedding itself in nearly every device, and quietly determining what people watch, read, and believe. It is also, finally, driving cars.
So where does the AI revolution actually stand today?
AI Is Everywhere, and the User Numbers Prove It
If you have been online recently, you have interacted with AI, whether through recommendation algorithms, AI generated search summaries, customer service chatbots, or content that was not entirely human written. One of the cleanest ways to measure demand is to track ChatGPT. OpenAI’s flagship product is now approaching 900 million weekly users, an extraordinary figure for a service that is not yet three years old.
For comparison, Gmail took more than a decade to reach one billion users, Facebook about eight and a half years, and TikTok roughly five. Those milestones were based on monthly users. ChatGPT’s figures are weekly, which suggests it has almost certainly already crossed one billion monthly users. Google’s Gemini is not far behind. Alphabet $GOOGL ( ▲ 0.72% ) has scaled Gemini to roughly 650 million monthly users, enough momentum to spark internal “code red” alarms across the industry.
Scaling platforms is easier in 2025 than it was in 2005, but even by modern standards, the speed is remarkable.
Teenagers Are the Power Users
Teen AI usage is becoming a major flashpoint. Policymakers and parents are already uneasy about algorithm driven social media, and that concern is now expanding to AI chatbots. Australia recently introduced a world first ban restricting under 16s from accessing major platforms.
In the US, Pew Research Center data shows teens are online more than ever. Around three quarters use YouTube daily, more than 60 percent use TikTok daily, and nearly two thirds say they have used AI chatbots like ChatGPT or Character.AI. More than a quarter use them every day.
AI is helping with homework, answering personal questions, offering companionship, and providing advice on everything from careers to relationships. With usage rising in both frequency and intimacy, AI may ultimately have a larger impact on young people than social media itself.
Corporate America Is Buying In, Sometimes Sincerely, Sometimes Performatively
At the enterprise level, AI adoption is rising steadily. US Census Bureau surveys show that larger companies are far more likely than smaller firms to have deployed AI in at least one business function. Automation and efficiency gains remain the stated goals.
That said, performative AI adoption is everywhere. Executives talk about AI relentlessly, hoping investors reprice their stocks after watching companies like Nvidia $NVDA ( ▲ 3.74% ) , Alphabet $GOOGL ( ▲ 0.72% ) , Broadcom $AVGO ( ▲ 1.98% ) , Palantir $PLTR ( ▲ 4.55% ) , and CoreWeave surge. Even utilities have become market darlings as investors realize that electricity, not software, may be the biggest bottleneck in the AI ecosystem. Everything is now “AI powered,” and startup founders are increasingly building almost nothing else.
The Bill Comes Due, Eventually
The hardest question in AI is also the most important. Who is paying for all of this?
Users are contributing more than before. OpenAI is nearing $20 billion in annualized revenue, while Anthropic is reportedly closer to $9 billion. That is real money, but it pales in comparison to the infrastructure spend required to keep models running.
Meta $META ( ▲ 0.32% ) and Oracle $ORCL ( ▲ 7.58% ) are now among the most capital intensive companies in the S&P 500, building massive data centers in rural regions. OpenAI has reportedly signed more than $1 trillion worth of long term infrastructure commitments. The era of the asset light tech giant is over.
Much of this cost shows up as capital expenditures. When Meta buys $1 million worth of Nvidia chips, it records capex and depreciates that cost over time. Nvidia books the same $1 million as immediate revenue. In the short run, this boosts aggregate corporate profits, one reason markets have been so strong. Over time, however, rising depreciation expenses are expected to weigh on margins, and Wall Street is already modeling that pressure.
AI Creates Winners, and It Creates Casualties
While AI has been a massive tailwind for Big Tech and infrastructure suppliers, other sectors are feeling the strain. Software companies like Adobe $ADBE ( ▼ 0.11% ) , Workday $WDAY ( ▲ 0.61% ) , and DocuSign $DOCU ( ▲ 0.39% ) face lower barriers to entry as AI commoditizes parts of their value proposition. Educators and publishers are grappling with AI generated essays and content. New graduates are entering a job market many blame on automation.
Industries including consulting, customer service, and even software development are increasingly exposed to AI driven disruption. The irony is hard to miss.
AI is rewriting economic hierarchies in real time. As always, history will likely be written by the winners, and possibly generated by them too.