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From wars and geopolitics to AI’s breakout moment, 2025 reshaped India’s economy, diplomacy and public life amid crises, reforms and global realignments. | Illustration: Binay Sinha
World events dominated, like never before, the front pages of newspapers in 2025: From the wars in Gaza and Ukraine to Donald Trump’s tariffs and the turmoil in Bangladesh. So did the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22 and the subsequent Operation Sindoor. Yet the most searched word globally this year was “Gemini”, Google’s AI platform, underscoring the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) worldwide.
In India, too, AI emerged as a central theme, with Gemini, Google, and ChatGPT competing with cricket and Bollywood in search trends. Reflecting this shift, Time named the “Architects of AI” as its 2025 Person of
