As 2025 draws to a close, I look back on a year that was truly unforgettable—marked by profound personal milestones, professional challenges, and deeper reflections on technology, society, and faith.
Personal Milestone: Marriage and New Beginnings
Amid economic uncertainty and global turbulence, one of the brightest moments came in May when I married my partner. This joyful event opened an entirely new chapter in my life, filled with love, shared dreams, and a renewed sense of purpose. It served as a powerful reminder that even in difficult times, personal happiness and commitment can flourish.
The Economy: A Challenging Landscape
2025 proved economically tougher than many anticipated—worse, in some respects, than the COVID-19 era. I was struck by the sheer number of highly skilled IT professionals actively seeking employment, far exceeding my earlier predictions. At my workplace, activity slowed considerably after a major AI project for a key client concluded in August, leaving a quieter environment that mirrored broader industry caution.
Artificial Intelligence: Rapid Progress with Human Oversight
This was a landmark year for AI advancement. Large language models (LLMs) and generative AI tools have become invaluable assistants in software development, dramatically shortening timelines and boosting productivity. However, these models remain unreliable for fully independent development; human expertise in software engineering is still essential for ensuring quality, security, and ethical outcomes.
Professionally, I contributed to several AI initiatives throughout the year. From August onward, I shifted focus to my own independent AI projects, exploring new possibilities and refining personal innovations in this fast-evolving field.
Digital Sovereignty: A Growing Imperative
In the AI era, digital sovereignty has emerged as a critical concern—not only for nations navigating geopolitical tensions, but for businesses and individuals alike. Open source software, open data, and open-source AI models offer powerful solutions, fostering global collaboration while reducing dependency on a handful of proprietary providers.
Generative AI applications exploded in popularity, yet they also heightened worries about data privacy and control. Encouragingly, more open-source models like DeepSeek were released, narrowing the gap with leading proprietary systems.
I renewed my advocacy for open data this year—providing feedback to data providers, following up on requests, and invoking Access to Information provisions (similar to Freedom of Information laws in other countries) to challenge non-open datasets.
Several high-profile cloud service outages lasting hours to days underscored the risks of over-reliance on centralized infrastructure. These incidents reinforced the value of hybrid cloud strategies and the need for future AI applications to incorporate diverse, multi-model architectures—blending open-source and proprietary models and agents—to enhance resilience and sovereignty.
I actively contribute to open-source projects, the open data movement, and advocate for open-source AI. My open-source projects are released on GitHub, and you can support my work by sponsoring me there: https://github.com/sponsors/sammyfung
Spiritual Journey: Service, Guidance, and Renewal
Throughout the year, I continued serving in fellowship groups, seeking God’s direction on how best to make a meaningful difference in an increasingly complex world.
After years of organising global & local Indigitous #HACK – global Christian hackathons focused on digital missions—I had an unexpected and uplifting encounter in November. Leaders from Indigitous visited Hong Kong from Singapore for work, giving me the opportunity to share the local history and challenges of the movement here while learning about the latest developments in digital missionary work worldwide. This meeting re-energized my commitment and prompted deeper prayer for guidance on serving God’s will amid today’s AI revolution, economic pressures, and political uncertainties.
“He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.”
— Psalm 25:9 (NIV)
Looking Ahead to 2026
The world remains unstable, with lingering economic, political, and technological uncertainties on the horizon. Yet I believe we are each called to steward our gifts and talents wisely—to prepare ourselves, build resilience, and contribute positively to our communities and the global society.
Here’s to a hopeful and purposeful 2026.
If you’d like to connect and share thoughts on life, faith, technology, or business, please don’t hesitate to reach out—I’d love to hear from you.
Email: [email protected]
Mastodon: https://fosstodon.org/@sammyfung
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sammyfung/
You can also buy me a coffee to show your support:
https://buymeacoffee.com/sammyfung