Things are About to Get Weird: The March of AI

If you thought things were moving fast last year, buckle up. The transformation wasn’t a blip, it was a warning shot for how radically and weirdly our technology landscape is about to tilt. The pace of AI innovation is now so wild, it’s warping the rest of the software market in its wake and the march forward isn’t just about software anymore. Robotics, intelligence, even the whole idea of what companies buy and sell, is mutating in real time.

SaaS M&A Collapse, AI M&A Explosion

2025 is the year the old playbooks broke. Traditional SaaS businesses are finding exits harder than ever, with M&A deal value plummeting. Q1 saw enterprise SaaS M&A drop nearly 25% quarter-over-quarter, and the mega-round drought is real.

Meanwhile, the AI industry is flooded with investment and deal activity. AI M&A broke records in 2024, over $200 billion in deals globally, up 20% year-on-year and 2025’s numbers so far show another 21% rise in deal volume in Q1 alone.

If SaaS was king, AI has stolen the crown and melted it down for parts.

Leaders Predict Models 1000x More Intelligent

It isn’t hype. The founders of Anthropic, OpenAI, and other AGI developers are publicly forecasting a leap to models 1000x more capable than today’s “base” agents, possibly by 2027 or 2028. Benjamin Mann (Anthropic) suggests a 50% chance of hitting some form of superintelligence by 2028.

This acceleration isn’t linear. AI is now learning how to improve itself, automating both coding and research, fuelling cascading leaps that are unpredictable even to experts.

Robotics: The Silent Revolution Is Roaring

Away from the screen, robots are being transformed by AI. In 2025, modular robots that assemble lunar bases, repair undersea pipelines, and operate with precision no human can match in autonomous surgery, are already a reality.

Key shifts:

• AI-driven autonomy: robots that analyse, plan, and adapt on the fly
• Collaborative innovation: tech giants and startups unite to invent adaptable machines
• Advanced sensing: haptic sensors, computer vision beyond human accuracy

Speculation: Where Next?

What does this mean for the next few years?

• The gap between human imagination and implementation collapses
• Traditional approaches will be redefined, or replaced, by AI-native platforms
• Robotics will extend beyond the factory floor
• The market will polarize: companies not embracing AGI risk obsolescence
• The rate of change is exponential, not incremental

If last year’s progress felt rapid, this year is moving at lightspeed. Problems that seem impossible today could be solved in weeks. But with this pace comes risk and responsibility.

Weird is just beginning. Let’s make sure we build it well.