Are you a luddit, Dave?

I was arranging to meet a mate of mine for lunch last week (let's call him Dave).

It was like talking to someone from the 1940s. You know. Before technology.

No TV. No computers. Just the wireless and hopscotch to keep you occupied.

I've already lost a few hours of 2025 that I'll never get back. The conversation went something like this:

Me: "I'll meet you at the Ivy at 1pm."

Dave: "Can you send me the address?"

Me: "You've been there before."

Dave: "I know but in case I can't find it"

Me: "!!!!!!!"

Also me: "Just Google it."

Dave: "Can't you just send it to me?"

Me: "You realise that I don't know the postcode of every restaurant in London? And to send you the address, I will have to Google it myself?"

Dave: "Yeah, thanks, mate."

I then proceeded to Google the address, screenshot it and send it to him.

And it got me thinking about the tech landscape in 2025. And AI in particular.

I think it's going to be a critical year.

A year that will split the population into those who remain scared and/or ignorant about AI and those who fully embrace its possibilities.

Which side of the line you're on could, I think, impact your studies, your career and even your relationships for years to come.

Let's dive in.

The AI Landscape

You can try to deny it but AI is everywhere these days.

It started small, with Autocorrect (still the most annoying aspect of my phone. Every time I typed 'Dave' whilst writing this newsletter, it tried to change it to 'drive' and even more bizarre, did the same thing the other way around! The sentence "I'm teaching my daughter to drive" just didn't come out right...)

Now, my car can drive for hundreds of miles without my input. I don't let it of course because I like it to know who's boss and who is the better driver. But it could.

AI can now write emails, write songs, play chess, help you to learn any text, research impossibly complex topics, help doctors diagnose disease (with better accuracy than real human doctors!). AI surgeons aren't too far off either.

In 2025, there’s consensus on three key points:

AI capabilities are improving rapidly.
This momentum isn’t slowing down.
A stark gap exists between AI “super-users” and casual adopters or luddites as I shall be calling them.

The challenge of 2025 isn't about AI replacing humans.

Instead, it will focus on how you embrace these tools to solve real-world problems effectively—or get left behind.

"Specialised Agents"

Forget dreams of AI solving every conceivable problem.

The real progress lies in specialised AI agents built to tackle specific challenges with measurable outcomes.

For businesses, think AI systems helping surgeons minimise complications, manufacturers streamline production, or researchers analyse massive datasets.

For individuals, it's about YOU teaching AI to help YOU solve specific problems to YOU.

I make music (as you probably know) and I use a piece of software called Ableton Live which I'm sure most of you won't have heard of. No matter. It has a manual that is 898 pages long!!!! Suffice it to say that it's quite a complicated, sophisticated piece of software.

Earlier this month, I uploaded the whole document to Chat GPT with some specific instructions about how I would like it to help me. This "specialised AI agent" is only forme and my specific needs.

I can now ask Chat GPT questions about Ableton Live as I'm using it so if I ever forget how to do something or even want some creative advice about how, say, to create a certain sound, it will have a reasonable attempt at distilling those 898 pages into a 10 step action plan that I can follow. It is amazing.

In 2025 then, success will be about delivering tangible real world solutions to real problems.

Empowering Humans

The most exciting trend isn’t about cost-cutting or efficiency. It’s about empowering individuals and small teams with tools that amplify their expertise.

This is crucial for my excitement about AI.

We should stop being worried that we are going to be replaced, and start being excited that AI can help us be a better version of ourselves. And who doesn't want that? (My wife, in particular, is super keen to see AI help me become a better husband).

AI’s power lies in amplifying human creativity, not replacing it. Experts can focus on what they love, while delegating repetitive tasks to their AI "assistants".

The Reality Check

Hype aside, AI-powered advancements in the physical world will progress slower than software-based solutions.

For example, Tesla’s Autopilot took nearly a decade to achieve today’s capabilities, and autonomous vehicles like Waymo in San Francisco are only now delivering significant real-world results.

The lesson? Atoms move slower than bits. AI may revolutionise software, but physical-world applications still require patience and iteration.

The Bottom Line

The divide between those who wield AI effectively and those who don’t will grow wider in 2025.

Success won’t come from owning the most advanced AI but from knowing how to apply it thoughtfully to solve meaningful problems.

The challenge is clear: identify problems you care about deeply and use AI to solve them.

That’s how you stay ahead in the AI age.

AI’s Role in Creativity

As AI-generated content floods social media feeds, some predict a return to more personal, thoughtful platforms—like blogs. Why?

Because AI, for all its utility, struggles with authenticity. In a world increasingly filled with “perfectly optimised” but soulless content, readers crave genuine, messy, human insights.

That's why I write this sometimes rambling, rarely useful, weekly letter. It helps me get my thinking in order and, hopefully, gives you an insight into the way another human thinks.

If you're wondering what the hell this letter has been all about, and you haven't yet explored Chat GPT, then I can thoroughly recommend this online course. I know the guy who runs it (Dave) but I'm not (yet) on commission.

Let’s make this year about closing the AI divide—and empowering more people to thrive.

Happy Saturday,

Jon "Half Human Half Robot" Kaye

P.S. I'd like to acknowledge my AI assistant who helped me research this article and make it seem like I know what I'm talking about.