This week, we’re doing something a bit different. I’m rounding up the biggest stories on the internet and in the tech world from the past year: the weird, wonderful and life-changing. Then, Lately is going on a holiday hiatus for a couple weeks. I’ll see you back on Jan. 10!

Here are the five stories I couldn’t stop thinking about this year.

This was the year that AI was seemingly everywhere. AI voice assistants started to sound eerily like humans, AI slop – i.e. wonky and low-quality AI-generated images – infested our social-media feeds, and AI companion chatbots became even more popular, fuelling some worries about the potential harm to children.

AI acolytes, however, were most hyped this year about the potential of AI agents. While a chatbot can tell you how to do something, an agent will actually make a plan and do it. The major generative AI players – OpenAI, Google and Anthropic – all launched or announced their own AI agents that can perform simple tasks on behalf of a user, such as online shopping or analyzing spreadsheets.

All this hype has led to massive gains for the companies within the industry. Nvidia, which makes the chips that power generative AI, surpassed a US$3-trillion valuation this year and, for a short time, even overtook Apple and Microsoft in market value. But the hype also rubbed up against the creative industries, with musicians, publishers, actors and artists filing lawsuits against AI companies over copyright infringement.

Once derided as a fad or something that only Redditors were into, this year proved that bitcoin is a lucrative financial asset that’s been embraced by Wall Street – and the U.S. president-elect. The victory of Donald Trump, who campaigned on creating a U.S. bitcoin reserve and even launched his own coin, catapulted the price of bitcoin as investors wagered that a Trump administration will introduce a friendlier regulatory environment. This month, bitcoin rose to a landmark US$100,000, with the valuation of all coins in circulation estimated at US$2-trillion.

Some 15 years ago, when Twitter was still relevant and the epicentre of online culture, viral tweets could lead to book deals or TV shows. (See: prolific tweeter Kelly Oxford and her memoir Everything Is Perfect When You’re a Liar, or the TV show $#*! My Dad Says, inspired by the Twitter account of the same name.)

These days, it only takes one viral TikTok to reap major benefits, and this year, we saw several catchphrases launch careers. Megan Boni made a TikTok proclaiming she’d written the song of the summer, listing the traits of an ideal partner – “I’m looking for a man in finance, trust fund, 6-5, blue eyes” – which landed her a recording deal and multiple club remixes actually played in IRL clubs.

There was the onomatopoeic Hawk Tuah Girl, aka Haliey Welch, who became famous for a street interview in which she does an impression of what she considers the best sex trick. Welch now has a podcast, sold thousands of dollars in merchandise and even launched a meme coin, the latter spurring legal action from investors who say the coin was a scam.

But perhaps the biggest phrase of the year was “very demure, very mindful,” popularized by TikTok creator Jools Lebron, a way to describe everything from work-appropriate makeup to reading the new Sally Rooney on the subway. It felt like every brand on social media was jumping on the “demure” trend, but Lebron was able to monetize the trend too. From her TikToks, Lebron said she’s earned enough money to pay for the rest of her transition and move into a swanky new apartment.

During the presidential election, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris turned to podcasters, YouTubers, streamers and social-media stars as gateways to very specific segments of potential voters they are unlikely to reach through cable news or rallies. For Trump, that was tapping into “the manosphere,” a collection of online spaces led by prophets such as Joe Rogan and Theo Von, with devoted followings of young men. Harris’s team leaned hard into brat memes – a nod to Charli XCX’s album of the summer – and other TikTok trends. And both campaigns directly engaged with influencers, whether by collaborating on content or inviting them to their respective conventions, indicating the relationship between creators and politicians could grow even closer in the future.

Social media is an industry always rife with uncertainty, but this year everything felt even more chaotic. Hordes of users are leaving Elon Musk’s X, which has become a bot-filled, MAGA-loving mess. Bluesky is trying to be the “new Twitter,” but it’s yet to be seen if it can take the throne – or if people even care about short text-based platforms any more. Truth Social is the place to be if you want to get the breaking news from the incoming Trump administration, such as his views on tariffs.

And is TikTok actually going to get banned in the United States? The U.S. Supreme Court said this week it’s going to hear arguments on Jan. 10 from TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, which argues that the ban violates free speech. Here in Canada, TikTok’s fate is also looking a bit cloudy. The federal government has ordered the company to shut down its Canadian business, citing national-security concerns, but also said the actual app will not be banned. TikTok has challenged this court order, and so the saga continues.