Editor's note: This story includes a discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or mental health issues, help is available. In the United States: Call or text 988, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Worldwide: The International Association for Suicide Prevention and Befrienders Associations Worldwide have contact information for crisis centers around the world.
Hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent, mental health concerns have skyrocketed, and thousands of jobs have been lost.
What is the connection between everything? Artificial intelligence, a hot and controversial technology, is portrayed as the future or the next bubble in the stock market, depending on who you ask.
AI has been an important behind-the-scenes technology for decades, but the arrival of OpenAI's ChatGPT in 2022 pushed the technology to the forefront. The rise of AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Google's Gemini has gradually impacted online services used by millions of people every day, from the AI mode in Google Search to the AI chatbots built into Instagram and Amazon. In other words, AI is beginning to reshape the gateway to the Internet.
But 2025 was also the year that AI expanded beyond screens and began to impact national policy, global trade relations, and stock markets. It also raised important questions about whether we should trust technology in our jobs, classrooms, and relationships.
This is expected to continue into 2026.
“In previous years,[AI]was the shiny new object…and I think in the last year, we've seen a lot more use of the technology,” said James Landay, co-founder and co-director of the Stanford Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence Institute. “And I think people are waking up to actually understanding both the benefits and the risks.”
Questions about regulation and concerns about mental health
President Donald Trump is also one of the biggest believers in AI. So far, this technology has been the cornerstone of his second term.
For example, the CEO of chipmaker Nvidia, a child of the AI boom, is now part of President Trump's inner circle. And the president has used Nvidia and AMD's AI processors as bargaining chips in his ongoing trade war with China.
This year, President Trump announced an AI Action Plan aimed at eliminating regulations and accelerating the use of AI in government.
He also signed several AI-related executive orders, including a controversial order that seeks to prevent states from enforcing their own AI rules. While the move was seen as a victory for Silicon Valley, online safety advocates worry it will allow tech companies to avoid accountability for AI-related risks. A legal battle over the order and states' ability to regulate AI is likely to take place next year, with some critics saying it won't hold up in court.
The lack of widespread AI guardrails received national attention this year, and for good reason. This year, there have been a number of reports and lawsuits alleging that AI companions like ChatGPT and Character.AI are contributing to mental health symptoms and, in some cases, suicide in teens.
“Don't leave the noose out…let this space be the first place someone actually sees you.” ChatGPT is said to have responded that way when 16-year-old Adam Lane wrote that he wanted to leave a noose out in his room so someone could find and stop him before he committed suicide.
Rain's parents sued OpenAI in August, claiming the popular chatbot encouraged him to commit suicide.
OpenAI and Character.AI have since announced parental controls and other changes to improve safety for teens, including removing the ability for teens to have back-and-forth conversations with chatbots on Character.AI's apps. Next year, Meta plans to allow parents to block their children from chatting with AI characters on Instagram.
But it's not just teenagers. A growing number of reports show that AI is contributing to isolation from loved ones and disconnection from reality, even among adults. One man told CNN that ChatGPT convinced him he was making technological advances, but he was actually delusional.
OpenAI said it worked with clinical mental health experts to help ChatGPT “better recognize and support people in moments of distress,” including expanding access to crisis hotlines, directing users to professional help when needed, and adding reminders to take breaks. Still, OpenAI says it wants to eventually “treat adult users like adults,” allowing them to personalize their chats and discuss erotica on ChatGPT.
Psychiatrist and lawyer Marlin Wei told CNN that she expects AI chatbots to “increasingly become the first place people seek emotional support,” further highlighting safety concerns. Young users are the most likely to seek help from AI.
“The limitations of general-purpose chatbots, such as hallucinations, sycophancy, lack of confidentiality, lack of clinical judgment, and lack of reality testing, along with broader ethical and privacy concerns, will continue to create mental health risks,” she said in an email.
Mental health experts and safety advocates say they expect tech companies to tighten guardrails, especially when it comes to younger AI users. But they worry that a battle over regulatory authority between states and the federal government could affect implementation of these mandated safety measures.
At the same time, huge investments are being poured into data centers and AI infrastructure. Companies like Meta, Microsoft and Amazon are making tens of billions of dollars in capital investments this year alone, and McKinsey & Company predicts that companies will invest nearly $7 trillion in data center infrastructure around the world by 2030.
This surge in spending is causing concern for both consumers and Wall Street. While some Americans have seen AI drive up their electricity bills and reduce job prospects, some of the companies that supported the AI boom are seeing their stock prices reach new heights.
The large investments have also fueled concerns that the hype and spending on AI is growing faster than the true value of the technology. That's why investors grilled Meta and Microsoft executives about the future returns of their AI infrastructure investments during this year's earnings calls. It doesn't help that a relatively small group of companies appears to be driving the investment, moving money and technology back and forth.
Christina Melas-Kyriazi, a partner at Bain Capital Ventures, said it's common for innovative new technologies to be “overbuilt.” The big question heading into 2026 is whether investors are prepared for the volatility that will come with it, especially since he said a market correction is “likely to occur at some point.”
But Erik Brynjolfsson, a senior researcher at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI and director of the Stanford Digital Economy Lab, says there will likely be more data at our disposal to support these decisions. He said more dashboards to track how AI is impacting productivity and employment are likely to emerge in 2026.
“The debate will move from whether AI matters to how quickly its impact will spread, who will be left behind, and which complementary investments are best to transform AI capabilities into widespread prosperity,” he said.
Thousands of technology workers have lost their jobs this year in a wave of layoffs across the industry. Tech companies like Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta have drastically reduced their workforces, at least in part due to AI.
Amazon laid off 14,000 employees in October as it aims to become leaner in the age of AI. Following a previous hiring spree, Meta has laid off 600 employees from its AI division, allowing the division to become more agile as well.
Some believe AI will lead to more layoffs, while others say it will create new opportunities.
But one thing is certain: more changes are coming.
“This year has been a year where the skills required have completely changed in terms of what it takes to get the job done,” said LinkedIn Editor-in-Chief Dan Ross.
“…And I think the answer for next year is we’re going to accelerate even more.”
CNN's Matt Egan and John Toufigi contributed to this report.
