IoT Chronicles: May 2025

As the tech world transitions from spring launches to summer momentum, May 2025 delivered standout moments - from cutting-edge AI tools to bold IoT advancements and even a cinematic nod to innovation.

Here’s a look at the biggest moves shaping the IoT world.

1. Microsoft Build 2025: AI Agents and the Natural Language Web

Microsoft’s Build 2025 was all about empowering developers with AI. Key highlights included:

• GitHub Copilot is now a full coding agent - able to build features, refactor legacy code, fix bugs, and collaborate with other agents.
• Natural Language Web (NLWeb) aims to make websites interactive through natural language, turning them into smart, responsive agents.
• Microsoft expanded support for multi-modal AI, with deeper integration of third-party model hosting like Anthropic’s Claude, Mistral, and xAI’s Grok 3 across Azure and Fabric.

Microsoft is doubling down on its vision of developer-first, AI-everywhere tooling, reshaping how humans and machines will collaborate in code.

Watch the recap here.

2. Google I/O 2025: The Era of Gemini Everywhere

At I/O 2025, the message was loud and clear: Gemini isn’t just a model—it’s the core of Google’s AI ecosystem. Key announcements included:

• Conversational Search: Google Search now supports interactive, AI-driven queries, blending traditional indexing with real-time context.
• Project Astra: An experimental AI assistant that sees and understands the world - processing video, audio, and user intent in real time.
• Gemini Nano on-device: Google’s lightweight AI models now run directly on Pixel phones and Android XR platforms, including in the new Aura smart glasses.
• A strong emphasis on responsible AI, with new collaborations across academia and open-source communities.

From mobile to wearables to the web, Google is embedding Gemini deeply into its products—building toward a seamless, ambient AI experience.

3. IoT Solutions World Congress 2025: Laying the Groundwork for Industry 5.0

Barcelona once again played host to one of the most forward-looking events in the IoT world - IoTSWC 2025. While we couldn’t attend this year (see you in 2026!), the agenda and speaker lineup told a clear story:

• 25B+ devices expected online by 2026, with major shifts in smart manufacturing, connected healthcare, and digital infrastructure.
• Growing emphasis on cybersecurity, interoperability, and ethical AI in industrial deployments.
• Notable crossover with edge AI, digital twins, and machine vision showcased across hundreds of exhibitors.

This was less about gadgets and more about how IoT is building the nervous system of tomorrow’s industries.

4. IEEE ICRA 2025: Robotics Gets Agile and Autonomous

Held in Auckland, ICRA 2025 - the flagship robotics conference from IEEE - brought together top minds in autonomy, AI, and automation. This year’s focus: real-world deployment.

• Showcases included robot swarms, humanoids, and drones with advanced adaptive control and collaboration.
• Breakthroughs in robotic perception, enabling terrain-aware navigation, 3D manipulation, and context-sensitive decision-making.
• Sessions explored human-robot teaming across sectors - from smart factories and farms to disaster zones and deep space.

With IoT and edge AI increasingly integrated into robotics, many of these concepts are set to leap from lab to industry in the coming year.

5. OpenAI x Jony Ive: A $6.5B Design Bet on the Future of Human-AI Interaction

OpenAI has officially acquired Jony Ive’s design firm, LoveFrom, in a deal reportedly valued at $6.5 billion. The partnership will focus on:

• Designing hardware interfaces for AI that feel intuitive, calm, and deeply human.
• Long-term R&D in agentic computing and “invisible” AI - blending elegance with utility.
• Cross-disciplinary design, pulling from industrial design, architecture, and human factors.

It’s rare to see design given this level of investment, and it signals OpenAI’s ambition to go far beyond software.

📍 TechCrunch

6. Bonus: 50 Years of Industrial Light & Magic

This year marks 50 years of Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) - and while it’s not a classic IoT story, it’s a powerful reminder of how technology and storytelling have always moved hand-in-hand.

Founded by George Lucas in 1975 to bring Star Wars to life, ILM didn’t just invent lightsabers or resurrect dinosaurs in Jurassic Park - it pioneered entire industries. The studio’s relentless innovation in visual effects has inspired generations of engineers, artists, and technologists alike.

Today, ILM is still pushing boundaries in real-time rendering, virtual production, and simulation - technologies that increasingly intersect with IoT, shaping how we visualize data, environments, and the future itself.

That's a wrap!

May 2025 was a month of bold steps forward - from AI agents reshaping development, to Gemini redefining devices, to robotics and industrial IoT evolving in real time. Whether it’s code, machines, or movie magic, the future is getting smarter, faster, and more connected. Stay tuned! June is already warming up.