Think back to mid-May. Eight months ago today, the world felt like it was finally hitting a stride that wasn't just "post-pandemic recovery" but something entirely new. We were seeing the first real, tangible results of the 2024 AI hype cycle turning into actual products you could buy, while the Federal Reserve was playing a high-stakes game of chicken with inflation. If you look at your bank account or your phone today, the seeds of those changes were planted exactly eight months ago.
It wasn't just another month.
May 2025 was a pivot. We saw the launch of several "Agentic AI" platforms that shifted the conversation from "chatbots that talk" to "software that does your job." Companies like Salesforce and Microsoft started rolling out updates that allowed AI to navigate your desktop, handle your emails, and actually book travel without you clicking a single button. It felt like the future. Or a nightmare, depending on who you asked at the time.
The Economic Ripples of May 2025
Remember the "higher for longer" mantra? Eight months ago, the markets were obsessed with it. Jerome Powell and the Fed were staring down a surprisingly stubborn Consumer Price Index (CPI) report. Everyone was betting on when the first rate cut would actually happen. That uncertainty in May is exactly why the housing market looks the way it does right now.
Mortgage rates were hovering in that uncomfortable 6.8% to 7.2% range. If you were trying to buy a house eight months ago, you were probably exhausted. The inventory was tight. Sellers were holding onto their 3% rates from 2021 like their lives depended on it. This "lock-in effect" peaked right around May, creating a massive bottleneck in the real estate market that we are still trying to shake off today.
Interestingly, the tech sector didn't care.
While the average person was sweating their grocery bill, Nvidia was smashing through valuation records. It became clear that the "AI tax"—the massive amount of capital companies had to spend just to stay relevant—wasn't going away. This created a weird divergence. The S&P 500 was being carried by a handful of giants, while the "Main Street" economy felt sluggish.
When AI Became an Employee
Eight months ago today, the conversation around AI changed. We stopped talking about whether LLMs could write poetry. We started talking about "Agentic Workflows."
Andrew Ng, a massive name in the AI space, had been beating the drum about agents for months, but May was when the mainstream finally got it. We saw the release of tools that didn't just generate text; they used tools. They could browse the web, write code, execute that code, and then fix their own errors.
👉 See also: Rite Aid Beaver PA: The Real Story Behind the Store on Third Street
For the average office worker, this was the start of the "Great Efficiency Squeeze."
Management started looking at teams and wondering if ten people were really necessary when one person with a fleet of AI agents could do the same volume of work. It sounds harsh. It was harsh. But it also opened up this weirdly creative space where people started building mini-companies from their bedrooms. You could basically be a CEO, a marketing department, and a developer all at once.
The Cultural Shift: Why We Stopped Caring About "Content"
There was a specific vibe eight months ago. A sort of "content fatigue."
Social media platforms were getting flooded with AI-generated junk. AI images were everywhere—you know the ones, the ones where the lighting is too perfect and everyone has too many teeth. By May 2025, the "Dead Internet Theory" didn't feel like a conspiracy anymore; it felt like a Tuesday.
People started craving "Human-Proved" stuff.
This led to the rise of hyper-niche communities. Discord and private Telegram groups saw a massive spike in users because people wanted to talk to actual humans, not algorithms. If you look at the most successful brands today, they are the ones that leaned into "radical authenticity" back then. They stopped using stock photos. They stopped using PR-speak. They started being, well, kinda messy. Because messy feels real.
Lessons Learned Eight Months Later
Looking back, we can see that May 2025 was the end of the "wait and see" era.
If you didn't adapt your workflow then, you're likely struggling now. The divide between those who use AI as a tool and those who fear it as a replacement has only grown wider.
What You Should Do Now
- Audit your subscriptions. A lot of the AI tools that launched eight months ago have already been folded into larger platforms. You might be paying $20 a month for something your email provider now does for free.
- Check your portfolio. The "AI winners" of May 2025 have matured. If you're still holding onto speculative tech stocks from that period, it's time to see which ones actually have revenue and which ones were just riding the hype.
- Focus on "The Last Mile." AI can do 90% of the work, but that last 10%—the human touch, the empathy, the weird creative leap—is where all the value is. Double down on the things an agent can't do.
- Re-evaluate your real estate goals. If you stayed out of the market eight months ago, look at the current inventory. The bottleneck is starting to crack, but the prices haven't plummeted like some "gloom and doom" YouTubers predicted.
The world moves fast, but history has a way of leaving footprints. The decisions made in May 2025—by the Fed, by Big Tech, and probably by you—are the reason your 2026 looks the way it does. Understanding that connection is the only way to stay ahead of the next eight months.
Keep your eye on the data, stay skeptical of the hype, and never underestimate the power of a human connection in an increasingly automated world.
The most valuable asset you have isn't your prompt engineering skills. It's your judgment. Use it.