--- title: "2025 in Review: Hope and Stillness" author: "Darren Su / 苏鹏" authors: ["Darren Su"] language: "en" archiveYear: "2025" dateNote: "2025 year in review" canonical: "https://www.darren-su.com/en/blog/2025-year-in-review" description: "Looking back on a year of entrepreneurship, community events, and nonprofit collaboration, alongside a search for inner steadiness and the hopes I held for 2026." tags: ["Year in Review","Entrepreneurship","Community","Life"] --- # 2025 in Review: Hope and Stillness Looking back on a year of entrepreneurship, community events, and nonprofit collaboration, alongside a search for inner steadiness and the hopes I held for 2026. *English translation of [the Chinese original](https://www.darren-su.com/zh/blog/2025-year-in-review).* 2025 was a year of immense change. I often felt as though I was right in the middle of the currents shaping our time. AI is a rare force for change, and I am grateful to be living in an age of such profound uncertainty. ![A year-end WeChat Moments post reflecting on DeepSeek, Manus, and CES](https://www.darren-su.com/blog/2025-year-in-review/image-01.png) *DeepSeek at the start of the year, Manus at the end, and CES just around the corner. It is hard not to look forward to 2026.* If I had to describe 2025 in a few words, I would choose **hope** and **stillness**. ## Hope AGI Villa officially began operating in early September. ![A conversation checking company documents as AGI Villa began operating](https://www.darren-su.com/blog/2025-year-in-review/image-02.png) We gradually became more certain that a **community-driven venture studio** was the right path for us: building ventures and growing together, rather than pursuing a single startup in isolation. We now have three projects underway. They are all still at an early stage, but I am looking forward to seeing them bear fruit. We also made **going global** a clear long-term priority. I do not especially like the Chinese expression "going overseas"; I think we should be global from day one. This year, I met developers and communities in other countries whose questions about the AI era, and whose ways of thinking about community, were remarkably close to our own. Those encounters strengthened my conviction about working globally. ![A group photo with developers and community partners from other countries](https://www.darren-su.com/blog/2025-year-in-review/image-03.jpg) We grew more confident in the value of *content and its influence*, and began systematically improving how we produce it: from livestreams to clips, transcripts, and a knowledge base, making the knowledge go as far as possible. AI plays an important role in this process and can greatly improve efficiency. I believe the companies of the future should be AI-native. Thank you to my partner Monica for her tireless work. 🥰 With a livestream every Wednesday evening, we produced 17 episodes in just over three months and began building a following on the Xiaoyuzhou podcast platform. ![An introduction and subscription code for the AGI Villa podcast on Xiaoyuzhou](https://www.darren-su.com/blog/2025-year-in-review/image-04.jpg) The transcripts on our WeChat public account received thoughtful reading and feedback. Our plan is to get to 100 episodes, one step at a time. ![The AGI Villa WeChat public account QR code included in the original article](https://www.darren-su.com/blog/2025-year-in-review/image-05.jpg) This year, I also built a deeply trusting working relationship with Zhou Mo. It has made me believe even more strongly in the importance of shared values. Sometimes Zhou Mo and I marvel at the coincidences that brought us together. At first, I was simply an attendee asking her for a refund for a digital nomad conference. 🤣 Later, we discovered that we had both been in Mr. L's learning program in 2022. I never imagined we would have so many points of connection, or so many opportunities to work side by side. ![A conversation with Zhou Mo about discovering we had attended the same learning program](https://www.darren-su.com/blog/2025-year-in-review/image-06.png) Meanwhile, my exploration with Datawhale continued. This year, we organized in-person events in more than 20 cities across multiple countries. The idea behind **Un-AI and AI Creators Day** has always been simple: to help more people, especially those without a technical background, gain the ability to create. AI really is making that possible. In our collaboration with the ModelScope community, we brought together more than 600 participants for our largest mini-hackathon. Along the way, many partners supported us, and we gradually found new ways to collaborate. I am especially grateful to partners such as NCC, Xiangzhi, and S-Chuang, whose values are so close to ours. We work together because we believe in the same things. ![A group photo from AI Creators Day in Hangzhou](https://www.darren-su.com/blog/2025-year-in-review/image-07.jpg) On the nonprofit side, AGI Villa and Yihe (益盒) reached a shared understanding about helping more businesses direct their money toward effective giving. The Datawhale Volunteer Group's oracle-bone script project with Tencent SSV also went live[1]. Thank you to Zhibin for leading the effort and making it happen. ![AI and oracle-bone script courses on the Penguin Smart Learning platform](https://www.darren-su.com/blog/2025-year-in-review/image-08.jpg) Datawhale's annual gathering has just ended, too. I met so many young, energetic people. That is the beauty of a community that keeps renewing itself. ## Stillness I was fortunate to meet Teacher Junpeng this year. He has been a great source of insight. I had previously encountered individual psychology, the School of Mind in Chinese philosophy, and Buddhism here and there. But 2025 was probably the year I spent the most time **reflecting on the inner life**: on what it means to **cultivate oneself through everyday action**, and on how to avoid being swept away by complexity and change. I can feel that my mind is a little quieter than it used to be. An interesting pattern emerged: many friends initially came to discuss business opportunities, but it was our conversations about the inner life that resonated most deeply. ![Reading notes in my 2025 WeChat Books annual report](https://www.darren-su.com/blog/2025-year-in-review/image-09.jpg) ## 2026 We want to bring several key projects to meaningful milestones and work internationally more often and more naturally. "Going overseas" no longer seems quite the right expression. The world is already connected. We should be closing information gaps and helping more people participate in a global network of collaboration. Hardware will also be one of our main areas of work next year. 3D printing is so compelling, and we should help more interested people join the maker community. ![Looking at a 3D printer beside a workbench](https://www.darren-su.com/blog/2025-year-in-review/image-10.jpg) > If you are an entrepreneur or work with incubators, accelerators, investment, hardware, or related communities, I would love to talk and see what we could create together. WeChat: subranium. At Datawhale, I will focus on building our city communities next year. We will try to connect online and in-person learning, and bring industry and creative work closer together. We want more people to be able to take part in AI Creators Day, and for making things to be more than a form of expression: it should solve real problems. A focus on industry needs will be important. We also hope more people who share our values will become city leads. In a community, **people come before projects. With the right people, there is a chance to build something lasting.** If you would like to play a key role in a Datawhale city community, please get in touch. At the annual gathering, Guohao shared his plan to start an AI community overseas next year. I strongly support it. I also hope more people who share **Datawhale's caring culture—community first, centered on learners, helping contributors succeed, and recognizing and nurturing talent**—will come together to build a global community. I also spoke a few days ago with the team behind Tencent Research Institute's AI for Good corpus. I hope we can put some ideas into practice in the AI for Good field, too. ![An invitation to contribute to the AI for Good corpus](https://www.darren-su.com/blog/2025-year-in-review/image-11.png) ## A Final Thought At an event at Jiao Tong University recently, a student asked Teacher Cao what he thought about trends such as one-person companies, highly empowered individuals, and AI. ![A talk at the Jiao Tong University event](https://www.darren-su.com/blog/2025-year-in-review/image-12.jpg) His answer stayed with me: **"All of these are like waves in the sea. They rise, and they fall. What truly matters is how you find steadiness within yourself."** I am sharing those words with myself, and with you. May we all move forward with peace of mind in 2026. ![A shaded gateway bearing the words "Do not seek outside yourself"](https://www.darren-su.com/blog/2025-year-in-review/image-13.jpg) --- The Chinese text was archived in full from the author's [public mdnice copy](https://www.mdnice.com/writing/16bf272870184d8cb47a6ca44af3556b), preserving the account, plans, and invitations as they stood when it was written. The original publication date has not been confirmed. The public copy's publication date reflects this archiving process, not when the article was written or first published. The archival changes were limited to heading levels, paragraph formatting, and image storage locations. The original reference marker "[1]" is retained; the public copy did not include its corresponding link.