Life Hacking

2026 Predictions Recap and 2025 Year in Review

Reflecting on 2025: travel, loss, and deep AI learning. I share my personal highlights and 2026 predictions on Google's AI dominance, crypto stagnation, and the rising threat of AI-driven fraud.

Kenya Safari

It's been a year, hasn't it? 2025 brought many challenges to the table, but most of all, AI is top of my mind.

Personally, I have grown a lot this year, taking on the task of deep-diving into data-driven business topics, understanding how fraud works and how to fight it, and, of course, learning the ins and outs of using AI properly and finally really putting my health front and center.

A couple of low points this year are definitely the loss of two close family members. No mincing words on this one, as it plain sucks!

My family had ambitious travel goals this year and as always a highlight for me. Starting the year in Arizona, a break in the sun in Antalya, Turkey, camping in Bonnal, France, and Elba, Italy, a trip to Europapark, our first time to Africa visiting the amazing Kenya, and wrapping up the year in the US.

Highlights 2025

Unlock more Amazing travel ✅ ✅ ✅
Get GlobalWerk back to $ 3,000 in MRR. I’m still short on this one. Currently hovering around $1’000 MRR, but trending in the right direction.
Deep dive into ML /AI topics. Oh yeah, this has been a lot of fun.
Eat healthier and drink less coffee. Yes, this was also achieved, and I did so by setting a time limit. So I would stop drinking coffee after 3:30 PM every day, which would also reduce my coffee intake and actually improve my sleep pattern, according to my Garmin watch.
Read 10 books; I read 5, but the 5 I read were great. Check out the book reviews here.
Ride another 1’000 kilometers. I fell short this year, achieving 960 kilometers. My biggest highlight, however, was that my son is now inspired to mountain bike with me, and we have done several great rides, including some downhill, with a couple of crashes. Looking forward to more in 2026.
Gym 3x per week. Nailed this one as well. Really found a good rhythm this year.
Continue building AI/website projects. I had a lot of fun digging into projects this year, and even inspired my son to learn Scratch programming so he could build projects himself.
Spoke at two conferences this year, with more planned for 2026.

2025 Prediction recap

AI Agents - Agents are currently dominating, and I am leveraging them for many tasks myself. I was expecting more automation in this space, since it requires a lot of DIY to get them working the way you want.
AI Video - With the latest releases of Sora, Gemini/Nano Banana, and others, we have now achieved TV-quality videos this year.
AI Developers - With Claude Code, Codex, Replit, and now Gemini, it is easier than ever to Vibe code an idea into an app in less than a couple of days. The ease of use and production quality will only improve in 2026. I even went so far as to completely rewrite my training platform, saving $1900 in the process
Crypto will continue running - Well, I was sort of on point here. Bitcoin started the year off at 100k, then had a tough year, but finally hit 120k before losing all its gains from October onwards. I think 2026 will be a very flat year.

Goals 2026

As in previous years, I want my health and family front and center in my goals. Focus on consistency and not a kilometer goal or similar. So let’s go.

Gym at least 3x a week
When the weather turns warmer, then at least 3 rides a week + gym (Yes, I’m a fair-weather cyclist)
Eat healthier lunches. Self-explanatory, but I find myself taking too large portions at lunch, which ruins my daily calorie intake.
Keep reading more books. I don’t want to put a specific number of books; keep reading.
Write more blog posts. I started writing again at the end of 2025, really enjoyed it, and want to continue.
Do some more YouTube videos. I converted my entire training content to YouTube, and it is doing really well. So I plan on making a bit more content. (Don’t worry, not starting a podcast again)
AI immersion: I want to keep finding new ways to use and implement AI in my daily life, both personally and professionally.

Predictions 2026

Crypto - OK, since I've been making crypto predictions over the last couple of years, let’s make one for 2026. Unfortunately, I believe crypto will remain relatively flat this year, but I’m open to being proved wrong

Google AI/Gemini - I believe 2026 will be the year of Google taking the lead in the AI race. If you haven’t read the amazing article about TPU vs. GPUs to understand why Google is so much better positioned to own the AI race long term. To summarize, Google was late to the party, even though they invented the technology that enabled LLMs. Now, they have caught up to OpenAI and Antropic and will surpass them by a mile in 2026.

Apple + Gemini - Siri will take shape as Google’s Gemini in 2026, putting Apple in a strong position for a partnership with Google and the Apple ecosystem. I expect the new Siri to launch in 2026.

AI Video - AI video will be movie quality by the end of 2026. We already see AI in TV commercials but we will see AI produce videos up to 5 Minutes and be able to create full on movies. Watch our Hollywood!

The Rise of AI Fraud - I believe that with AI agents, AI Video, and images, fraud will increase significantly in 2026. For example, people create fake IDs, scam retailers with AI-generated images or, worse, scam people into sending money.

AI Agents impact on IT security - AI Agents are amazing. But you know what AI agents are also really good at doing? Solving difficult problems like how to hack a website. IT security companies are already scrambling to plug these holes, but as AI keeps getting smarter, so do the attackers. I can foresee a significant jump in IT-related security incidents in 2026.

To a happy and healthy 2026, let's go!