We’re almost in the new year, and 2025 will be quite the year in technology, politics, entertainment and science. Let’s have a look-see at what you can expect when 2025 rolls around.

🔹 AI will grow in 2025, but not unhindered

AI had quite a year in 2024. This year was really the first time we saw it pop up everywhere, both for good and bad. AI and Analytics Professor Daswin de Silva from La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia, said that while AI will continue to grow in 2025, there will be challenges. “Neural scaling laws suggest the abilities of AI systems will increase predictably as the systems grow in size and are trained on more data,” said De Silva. Neural scaling laws are like a growth chart for AI: they predict how much smarter and more capable AI gets when developers make its “brain” bigger, give it more stuff to study, or train it on faster computers. These laws help researchers know how to build better AI without wasting resources. De Silva says that these scaling laws seem to have recently stopped growing. “Making AI models bigger is no longer making them more capable. The scaling plateau is a welcome pause to the move towards building an AI system that is more capable than humans. It may allow robust regulation and global consensus to catch up,” he said.

🔹 Our economy might get better

If the Government of National Unity (GNU) holds steady, our economy might improve over the next five years. Standard Bank chief economist Goolam Ballim said the bank anticipated 2025 would be “more promising than the stabilisation period of 2024”, during which there had been a “striking improvement” in the political climate since the 29 May elections, which saw the formation of the GNU. “We believe the repair of the electricity infrastructure is the most significant stand-alone tonic that could buttress economic growth. Improved logistics over the next two years will be another leap [as well as several] other economic reforms, and if we are able to deal with crime, the 3.5% trend growth over a five-year horizon becomes probable,” he said. Yay for us!

🔹 Politics will take centre stage across the globe

We all know by now that Donald Trump’s return to the White House will have interesting (and potentially devastating) repercussions. While 2024 was the year of elections (eighty countries representing four billion people held elections), 2025 will see Australia and Germany head to the polls. In November, we mentioned that Germany’s historic three-party coalition government collapsed after finance minister Christian Lindner from the Freedom Democratic Party (FDP) proposed early elections and was sacked by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who is from the Social Democratic Party (SDP). Due to this, they’ll be holding their elections earlier than anticipated. Back home, we’ll be watching how the GNU fares, especially in the lead-up and after President Cyril Ramaphosa’s proposed National Dialogue. We’re also hosting world leaders for the G20 Summit. Under the ‘Fostering Solidarity, Equality, and Sustainable Development’ theme, the focus will be on tackling poverty, unemployment, and inequality while prioritising Africa’s development per the African Union’s Agenda 2063.

🔹 Even science will be interesting

2025 will be a big year for science, with breakthroughs and challenges. On the medical front, new weight-loss drugs promise greater accessibility and effectiveness. At the same time, non-opioid pain treatments might finally offer an alternative to opioids. Meanwhile, Trump’s return raises concerns about potential rollbacks on climate commitments and AI policies and his controversial appointments that could shake up public health and science agencies. Climate action takes the spotlight at COP30 in Brazil, where countries hope to settle funding disputes and advance talks on a global plastics treaty, while satellites like the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) will provide critical insights into deforestation and disaster response. It will be a year packed with potential—both to advance our understanding of the world and tackle some of its most pressing issues.

🔹 We’ll be spoilt for choice at the movies

2025 is shaping up to be a blockbuster year for movies, with something for everyone—from action junkies to fans of… chimpanzee biopics? Kicking things off is Better Man, where Robbie Williams is portrayed as a CGI chimpanzee by Jonno Davies because, apparently, we’ve run out of humans. Disney is continuing their live-action drive with movies like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Lilo and Stitch and Moana, getting the live-action treatment in 2025. Avatar 3 is also heading our way, so there’s something to look forward to.

PS: For all concertgoers, the HEY Neighbour Festival is back from 29 to 31 August 2025 at the Legends Adventure Farm in Pretoria. The festival first took place in 2023, and it featured local and international headliners, including Tyla, Kendrick Lamar, Zakes Bantwini, Swedish House Mafia, Khalid, and H.E.R., with over 60,000 music lovers in attendance.

There’s a lot to look forward to in 2025, but remember to prioritise self-care and do things that make you happy.