A robot kicked a man in the balls, and it’s the perfect metaphor for 2025

Artificial intelligence is not an alien visitor from another planet. This is something to remember next time we angrily rant about AI threatening humanity with an extinction event.

Nor should we take all the blame for what’s happening, as we can barely grasp innovation, and we aren't the ones blindly pushing AI adoption. But big tech's insatiable appetite for profits is another matter.

Today, I want to offer a brief rant about how poor I think we are, which is best demonstrated by how much we consume.

This year, we arrived at our family's Christmas gathering a day later than everyone else. As we were about to give (and receive) our presents, someone said: "You should have seen the amount of presents yesterday. Everyone wanted to splurge."

And yet, the five or more bags of presents we collected made me incredibly sad. Presents from Temu that wouldn't even work, or some questionable-colored chocolate – half of the contents seem destined to end up in the bin.

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Don’t get me wrong – I’m really flattered that someone thought of me and gave me a little something. But we are not the only family going crazy with our holiday shopping, and it has an impact on our environment.

If you opened Vinted, a popular second-hand marketplace app, you would see how many items that look like Christmas presents have been listed these past few days.

Self-stirring cups. Tons of silk pillowcases. Cheap neck massagers. A breast massager for painful periods. Countless holiday cosmetics sets. Home perfumes. Portable waist fans. Sushi dish sets. LED face masks. New board games. Paint-by-color sets.

In case you were wondering what a breast massager looks like, here it is.

Oh, the effort that goes into recycling the generous Christmas splurge.

We can pretend to be better by judgmentally asking who needs all this. But in reality, we are drawn to Shein thingies like a fly to a dung heap.

Isn't it the same with AI? We use it for some playful holiday shots, buy AI toys for our kids, and when we're too lazy to write yearly feedback for our colleagues, we resort to AI assistance. It all sounds innocent, and yet, we are sending a strong signal that no matter what the purpose, we want AI.

I'd love to see Mary Shelley's Frankenstein reworked with AI being the monster, wouldn't you?

For my last newsletter of the year, I leave you with some good content.

• If I had to recommend one movie for the end of the year, it would be Frankenstein by Guillermo del Toro. The director disturbingly humanizes the monster and offers the aesthetics only he can offer.
• In the wake of an employment crisis, being somewhat worried about being displaced by AI, I’ve started learning sewing. Brian Groh says they bought a chainsaw under similar circumstances. A wonderful opinion piece published by the New York Times.
• Here’s that groin-kicking robot I mentioned in the headline.
• I once heard that you need to be a good parent not only to your child today, but also to what they will be tomorrow. If you let them endlessly watch TikTok and use AI, they will have mushy brains tomorrow. Read this before buying an AI toy for your kid.
• Ultimately, what are we using AI for?
• Probably the most inspiring and thought-provoking podcast on journalism I listened to in 2025.

For the New Year, I want to wish you to be more in control. Don’t let algorithms be in charge of what you read, what you buy, or what you think.

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