My Reasoned Year In Review: My Top 5 in AI in 2025

And some also rans

There wouldn’t be much of a year in review for a site that is 7 posts in, would there? The fact is — and I didn’t realise this until I looked at a list of all that I’ve written 2025 — that I’ve been chiseling away at the Reasoned idea for much of this year, and it has been taking shape at my writing in other spaces (MediaNama, my personal blog, my ET column). Meanwhile, I spent much of this year pottering around with creating AI related workshops, an AI product that is yet to launch, and multiple custom ChatGPT bots (I have about 78 of them now) that now need rework since they were mostly made for GPT 4o.

Reasoned will examine how AI is reshaping the internet, business models, digital ecosystems and (limited) regulations. I’m going back to my roots of explaining strategy, products, business implications, and helping founders make sense of the change that is upon us. I will write on MediaNama about tech policy and regulation.

If there’s something you’d like me to cover at Reasoned in January 2026, let me know by replying to this email.

At Reasoned, there will be digressions into how some companies are performing and what they’re doing, but only because their current journey is important to how we understand the impact of AI on them. That is the lens I’m using. For example, and I plan to write about this in more detail, how until earlier this year, music label Saregama was excited about streaming services moving to subscription, and willing to forego minimum guarantee deals to build a sustainable subscription model. Music streaming services are increasingly getting swamped with AI generated music.

We are in the early stages of this shift, but it is taking place at breakneck speed.

So here’s my top 5 for 2025 (reading) list for you, following by me other writing:

Top 5 for 2025

1. A theory of the Impact of AI: What would a world without apps and the web look like?

   A thought experiment: if AI becomes the primary interface to information and services, what happens to the World Wide Web and applications as we know them? (read on MediaNama, and the follow up - AI and the quiet rewiring of the Internet)

2. The Opportunity Trap of the ChatGPT App Store

   In the AI world, context is currency. This analysis examines how platform dynamics are re-emerging in AI, and why the rush to build on AI platforms may be recreating the same dependencies that defined the mobile era. (read on Reasoned, followed by How to beat the opportunity trap of the ChatGPT App Store)

3. Understanding the AI Browser Wars

   OpenAI’s ChatGPT Atlas and Perplexity’s Comet are not just about convenience—they’re about who controls access to the internet itself. (Read on MediaNama)

4. On Facial Recognition of Toddlers in Preschools

   The use of facial recognition for toddlers raises fundamental questions about consent, data collection, and the normalization of biometric surveillance from childhood. (Read on MediaNama)

5. The gaps in YouTube’s likeness detection:

   YouTube’s new AI likeness tool protects creators against deepfakes, but requires personal facial data and government ID. The privacy implications of protection tools themselves. (Read on MediaNama)

Some of the rest

On AI

1. AI and Copyright:

   1. AI and Consent: AI and the right to say no

   2. AI, substitution and the incentives for creation: AI and the fragility of creation

   3. Theft and data mining in AI

2. Spam: On addressing the explosion in AI generated spam calls (on MediaNama)

3. The Future of Humanoid Robots

4. Deepfakes:

   1. Regulating Deepfakes: India’s flawed attempt at tagging outputs for addressing deepfakes (on Economic Times)

   2. Policy issues that the Bandana Girl incident raises (Non consensual AI videos) (on MediaNama)

   3. Interview (video): Shreya Ghoshal on the impact of AI generated fake ads on X (on MediaNama)

5. Humanoids: Notes from SuperAI 2025 on Persona AI’s vision for humanoid robots and their future (on MediaNama)

6. Benedict Evans on why AI might change everything, but hasn’t yet (on MediaNama)

7. Edward Snowden on the impact of AI on our freedom (On MediaNama)

8. How to deal with AI generated calling spam (On MediaNama)

Business and competition

1. What if competition regulation was applied to the NPCI?

   NPCI presents itself as a private, independent payments operator, yet its decisions shape India’s entire digital payments landscape. It functions as a quasi-regulator. Should competition rules apply? (on MediaNama)

2. Zomato and its quest for Eternal (something)

   Is Zomato’s Eternal rebrand about expansion, or protecting its turf? Or is it about something much much bigger (on MediaNama)

3. Understanding why HUL bought Minimalist

   What Hindustan Unilever’s acquisition of D2C brand Minimalist tells us about the future of direct-to-consumer brands and FMCG strategy.

4. On Blusmart and how cab aggregators are probably running closed wallets

   With the RBI looking into closed-loop wallets used for EV-related transactions, questions arise about how to regulate such wallets used to indirectly pay third parties.

YouTube, Free Speech and Copyright

1. Are YouTube’s content takedowns in accordance with Indian law?

   The ANI copyright strikes on YouTubers over one and a half years show the failure of the Indian Copyright Act to protect creators, as platforms follow the IT Act for content takedowns.

2. Fair Use and an Unfair Fight: On the issues that YouTube’s copyright strikes system has created

   ANI’s aggressive copyright strikes on YouTube raise fundamental questions about fair use and the power asymmetry between large rights holders and individual creators.

3. Are YouTube’s content takedowns in accordance with Indian law?

   The ANI copyright strikes over one and a half years show the failure of the Indian Copyright Act to protect creators, as platforms follow the IT Act for content takedowns instead.

4. Interview: Lawyer Ameet Datta on ANI vs YouTubers

   India’s copyright law is “effectively inoperative” when it comes to digital takedowns—that’s the stark assessment from Ameet Datta in this interview.

5. In Defence of Offence: On the Ranveer Allahbadia Controversy
   The Ranveer Allahbadia controversy is about more than one offensive remark—it reflects the growing power of the state and public outrage in shaping digital speech regulations. With new rules on “obscenity” likely, India’s online content landscape could become more restrictive.

6. Free Speech and X’s Lawsuit Against India’s Sahyog Portal

   Supreme Court cases dating back to 2014 have spoken about online censorship and its harmful effect on free speech. X’s lawsuit raises the same concerns about government censorship through the Sahyog portal.

7. How not to screw up your Digital Public Infrastructure

   As India pushes for global adoption of DPI, a take on what to avoid when building digital public infrastructure.

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In 2026, I will publish more frequently - twice a week is the plan - and eventually roll out a paid model for those who want more. I’m still figuring out a writing cadence so it’s too early for that conversation.

More than about how frequently I’ll write, Reasoned is going to be about a first principles analysis about how the Internet is changing because of AI, looking at power, incentives, battles, laws and long term structural shifts, to help you understand our digital world better.

In case there’s something you want me to write about, a rabbit hole you want to nudge me towards, please feel free to let me know.

Thanks,

Nikhil