This Week in Tech 1063: The Year’s End

Date: December 22, 2025
Host: Leo Laporte
Guests: Steve Gibson (Security Now), Paris Martineau (Intelligent Machines, Consumer Reports), Micah Sargent (Tech News Weekly, iOS Today)

Overview

This special year-end episode of TWiT brings together Leo Laporte, Steve Gibson, Paris Martineau, and Micah Sargent to reflect on the defining tech stories, trends, and peculiar events of 2025. The conversation is wide-ranging, spirited, and personal, spanning security blunders, the changing nature of privacy, the TikTok saga, the relentless march of AI, government intervention in tech, and cultural shifts in media consumption.

Main Themes and Key Discussion Points

1. Reflecting on the Biggest Trends and Non-Stories of 2025

[04:22]

• Much of the tech drama that loomed large early in the year faded into irrelevance: “A lot of the things we cared a lot about at the beginning of the year made no difference at all. By the end, it's like, what was that?” (Leo, [04:22])
• Many hot stories fizzled: “Nothing has happened. Nothing came of it.” (Micah, [05:12])

2. The Great TikTok Saga: A Year of Political Theatrics

[06:47]/[09:10]

• TikTok was nearly banned in the US, with dramatic moments like marching influencers in Washington and massive media coverage—only for the outcome to essentially perpetuate the status quo.
• The eventual deal allowed ByteDance (Chinese parent company) a capped 19.9% ownership, with Oracle and several American investors (including a Trump donor) taking control of ad sales and content moderation: “Nothing really has changed. The Chinese entity will retain all of the revenue... moderation in the hands of the Oracle coalition.” (Leo, [09:37])
• Concerns that content moderation is now even more fraught: “A group of unknown investors...are in charge of content moderation rules. That’s worse.” (Paris, [12:23])
• The process was more about money and consolidation than security or privacy: “Everything comes down to money. Now we have a bunch of American, quote, investors, unquote, who are part of the gravy train.” (Steve, [13:39])
• Notable quote:
  • “Will TikTok be a propaganda arm still? Yeah, but this time for our side, our propaganda. Right, it's our propaganda.” (Leo, [13:36])

3. Security: The Perpetual Cat-and-Mouse Game (China, Microsoft, DJI Drones)

[14:38] / [17:05] / [18:50]

• Persistent fears of Chinese government backdoors and hardware “kill switches,” exposed by findings in buses, power inverters, and especially DJI drones.
• Concerns about indiscriminate adoption of Chinese-made IoT and surveillance equipment:
  • “We filled American households with IoT devices that are all connected back to servers in China and what could they do?” (Steve, [19:11])
• Microsoft’s practice of sending bug reports to engineers in China resulted in zero-day exploits leaking before the fix:
  • “Microsoft was patching holes by sending it to engineers in China...before Microsoft could release the patch, it got in the wild.” (Leo, [20:23])

4. Privacy Erosion and Regulatory Backlash – The End of an Era on the Internet

[30:09] / [32:02]

• 2025 marked, in Leo’s words, the “year privacy died a second death and a third death and a fourth death.”
• Governments worldwide (UK, Australia, EU, states in the US) introduced or considered restrictive age verification, requiring even adults to prove their age before accessing various online services.
• Age verification systems based on facial analysis are inaccurate and potentially invasive:
  • “It's not only not good, but it's not fair... capricious, a coin toss.” (Steve, [37:55])
• Risk of leaks of personal data required by regulation (see Discord’s 70,000 user ID photo leak, [36:45]).
• Who should be trusted with such sensitive data—big tech companies, governments, or third parties? “Of all the existing services I would trust Apple.” (Steve, [41:16])

5. Shifting Attitudes Toward Privacy Across Generations

[47:04]

• Increased privacy awareness among younger generations—contrary to the stereotype of indifference (“People younger than me... I see the vehemence of hitting no on permissions.” - Micah, [47:24])
• But also some fatalism: “The younger generation is pretty fatalistic... They already know everything anyway, might as well give them whatever so that I can get what I can out of this.” (Paris, [50:07])
• The perennial trade-off between convenience and privacy (loyalty cards, social login, and e-commerce perks).
• Advertising remains an engine for privacy-violating business models in tech: “That’s how you make money on the internet. That’s how we make money.” (Leo, [63:00])

6. Children, Social Media, and Parental Anxiety

[51:01]

• Ongoing concern over children’s exposure to harmful content and manipulation on platforms like Roblox and the regulatory and technological attempts to limit minors’ access.
• The pandemic and popular works (e.g., Jonathan Haidt's book) magnified these worries, feeding regulatory action.

7. Year of AI: From Hype to Ubiquity and Existential Questions

[58:03]

• The defining story of the year by far: “AI is the story of the year... It even made me change the name of This Week in Google to Intelligent Machines.” (Leo, [58:03])
• Landmarks:
  • The Chinese company DeepSeek released a powerful model at low cost, shaking Western AI giants (“They taught the entire AI industry in the US a lesson. Scared the pants off them.” (Leo, [60:45]))
  • ChatGPT usage doubled to 800 million weekly users ([61:09])
  • Humanoid robots, once a novelty, became plausible and popular. But—why human-like? (“Do we need bipedal humanoid robots, though?” - Leo, [65:01])
• AI’s business model is still unclear—no profits yet, advertising is dominant, with eye-watering sums spent on talent (Meta offering $1.5 billion for top AI programmers).
• Deep worries about the authenticity of content, e.g., AI-generated images and videos becoming indistinguishable from real media:
  • “2026... we're going to get to the point where you can no longer tell it was generated by AI.” (Leo, [70:02])
• The show lampooned AI’s odd outcomes, sexualization in chatbots, and internet slang like “clanker blazing” ([69:20]).
• AGI (artificial general intelligence) remains speculative, but investment and interest are accelerating.
• Steve Gibson: “I’m a believer in AGI ultimately... I don't think there's anything that's that special about what we have in our brains that we’re not going to be able to create.” ([82:00])

8. Tech Legal/Policy and Market Moves

[94:40]

• Google was found to have monopolized search but was spared breakup or direct penalty, due to perceived threat from AI competition. “The judge said... AI came along and frankly, Google's in trouble, so we don't need to punish them.” (Leo, [94:40])
• RAM prices spiked fourfold due to AI demand, affecting both data centers and consumers ([96:10])

9. Media Consumption and the Evolution of Culture

[133:30]

• YouTube’s ascent as a TV platform: for the first time, YouTube on TV overtook mobile for view hours.
• Skepticism or indifference among younger guests regarding awards shows like the Oscars; shift away from traditional event-based media toward more communal, digital, or on-demand experiences ([137:00], [138:11])

10. Weird and Whimsical Stories of the Year

(Throughout, but especially from [161:06])

• Crosswalk buttons in Palo Alto were hacked to play AI-generated voices of Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk ([161:21])
• GameStop staff in Staten Island accidentally stapled a Nintendo Switch box and screen during the product’s midnight launch, but the “relic” was auctioned for charity ([163:36])
• Coldplay “kiss cam” incident: a viral concert moment derailed multiple tech execs’ careers ([164:05])
• AI self-serve kiosks gone wrong (Taco Bell, 18,000 waters) ([165:44])
• A Lego theft ring hoarded hundreds of beheaded minifigures ([167:02])

11. Remembering Lamar Wilson

[171:16]

• The passing of YouTube creator and former TWiT panelist Lamar Wilson at age 48 was met with sadness and a call for mental health awareness during the holidays: “If you’re going through a hard time, hang out with us... we'll keep you company.” (Leo, [172:52])

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (selected with timestamps)

• On how tech worries fade:
  “A lot of the things we cared a lot about at the beginning of the year made no difference at all. By the end, it's like, what was that?” (Leo, [04:22])

• On US TikTok deal:
  “Will TikTok be a propaganda arm still? Yeah, but this time for our side, our propaganda. Right, it's our propaganda.” (Leo, [13:37])

• On Chinese tech infiltration:
  “It's as almost as if there's been some dawning of what this means. And so suddenly now we're seeing all this age restriction legislation on social media...Suddenly now, I mean, China's behavior hasn't changed. We're just really getting concerned about it, realizing what could happen.” (Steve, [20:59])

• On privacy’s demise:
  “Honestly, I just give up. I mean we are so invaded. I mean privacy is, has been dead for a while, but this was 2025, was the year privacy died a second death and a third death and a fourth death.” (Leo, [30:09])

• On convenience vs. privacy:
  “People are willing to give up their privacy for free stuff...My wife, every time I say, you know, they're tracking you, waves her Rakuten check in my face and says, yeah, yeah. And see this? See this?” (Leo, [49:56])

• On AI progress:
  “2026...we're at, we're going to get to the point where you can no longer tell it was generated by AI, whether it's a picture, if it's a movie, if it's music...It is now...a major milestone where you cannot tell the difference between AI generated content and real content.” (Leo, [70:02])

• On generational privacy differences:
  “The younger generation is pretty fatalistic... They already know everything anyway, might as well give them whatever so that I can get what I can out of this.” (Paris, [50:07])

• AI/robotics weirdness:
  “Do we need bipedal humanoid robots, though?... Why do they have to look like us? Aren't there more convenient forms for it to be? I feel like humans aren't that well designed.” (Paris, [65:05])

• Steve on AGI:
  “I’m a believer in AGI ultimately... I don't think there's anything that's that special about what we have in our brains that we’re not going to be able to create something that is, you know, convincingly equal to us.” (Steve, [82:00])

• On traditions fading:
  (Re: Oscars) “Do I watch it? No. What I do is I am like knitting or something while I'm watching. I'm not really in. I'm not paying much...I just look up the list. No reason I need to sit there for three hours.” (Micah, [135:56])

Timestamps for Segment Highlights

| Segment | Timestamp Range | |-----------------------------|---------------------------------| | Introductions, Year Recap | 00:00 - 04:40 | | 2025’s Big Stories & Fizzles| 04:20 - 06:39 | | TikTok Saga | 06:45 - 13:53 | | Security (China, DJI, Microsoft) | 14:38 - 22:12 | | Privacy & Age Verification | 30:09 - 47:24 | | Generational Privacy Attitudes| 47:24 - 51:01 | | Children & Social Media | 51:01 - 52:02 | | AI Year in Review | 58:03 - 85:06 | | Media & Google Legal News | 94:40 - 99:44 | | Weird Stories of 2025 | 161:06 - 170:55 | | Remembering Lamar Wilson | 171:16 - 173:14 | | Reflections, Final Thoughts | 173:52 - end |

Tone and Atmosphere

The episode is marked by camaraderie, irreverent jokes, and occasional sarcasm. The panelists are candid, sometimes gloomy about surveillance and tech politics but quick to look for humor in the absurdities of the tech year gone by. The discussion is critical but also affectionate toward the industry and the TWiT community.

Final Reflections

Near the end, Leo and guests offer sober but optimistic wishes for the year ahead.

• “I have to believe that every year is going to be better, because if I believe it’s going to be worse, I’m not going to be in a good headspace.” (Micah, [173:52])
• Steve’s closing wisdom: “The best parts of life are friends and people who I enjoy being with...I think it’s up to us not to get de-socialized by this increasingly mechanized environment. Have friends, reach out to neighbors. Don’t be isolated. Stay connected.”

For listeners or readers, this summary captures the wide scope, key moments, and lively tone of TWiT 1063: The Year's End, offering a fast but thorough way to reminisce on 2025’s wild ride in tech.