Artificial intelligence and its effects on society were omnipresent topics this year, particularly amid a chaotic job market.
According to CNN, the use of AI in hiring could be exacerbating lengthy, fruitless job searches.
What's happening?
Unemployment remained high throughout 2025, and job seekers routinely claimed that AI scanning software rendered their resumes and cover letters invisible.
Recruiters asserted those concerns were unfounded, but CNN's reporting suggested that they were not entirely baseless.
The widespread availability of AI tools and LLMs like ChatGPT ostensibly streamlined the application process, allowing candidates to automate repetitive functions.
Dartmouth researcher Anaïs Galdin co-authored a 2022 study of the effects LLMs had on cover letters. She and her co-author determined that the length and quality of cover letters improved — which ultimately neutralized the overall impact of cover letters.
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Consequently, truly qualified and ideal candidates were indistinguishable from those who'd used an LLM to better match a job opening. The researchers further found that "the rate of hiring dropped, as did the average starting wage."
Daniel Chait, CEO of Greenhouse, an AI-powered recruitment platform, called the current state of affairs a "doom loop" for hirers and candidates alike.
"Both sides are saying, 'This is impossible, it's not working, it's getting worse,'" Chait admitted.
Why is this concerning?
All year long, career-focused subreddits were awash in posts from users who had never had difficulty finding work, people convinced AI had "broken" the job market.
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Absolutely 💯 Geoffrey Hinton is known as the "Godfather of AI" for his pioneering research and for his decision to quit Google to speak freely about risks he believes AI poses. Among them, Hinton warned that AI could be leveraged to create "mass unemployment."
The workplace wasn't the only sector rocked by AI: from primary school to the upper echelons of academia, the technology's role and its benefits and detriments have been disruptive.
At the same time, data centers have become emblematic of the advance of AI, and the facilities themselves are controversial. In addition to reducing the quality of life and air for nearby communities, they wreak havoc on local water resources and the broader power grid.
In 2025, electric bills skyrocketed nationwide, increases that were particularly painful considering the high unemployment rate and overall soaring cost of necessities like food.
Energy and food are what's known as inelastic goods: products and services that are necessities and cannot easily be "cut," if at all.
The culprit behind gargantuan electricity costs? Data centers, which drive up demand, the overall price of electricity, and, in recent months, utility arrears and shutoffs.
What's being done about it?
Politicians are under pressure to act to lower utility bills, amid widespread calls for regulation of the AI industry.
As for the job market, former recruiter Jared Looper told CNN that the current situation was unworkable.
"Some great people are going to be left behind," he said.
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