The 2025 State of AI
Personal AI assistant with real-world agency, voice mode, and camera sharing.
Vellum delivers real-world agency with its own email, subdomain, and proactive heartbeat. Voice Mode with camera sharing and the memory graph (v0.11.3) close the gap with consumer assistants. But the setup complexity and credit system still demand a technical user. Pick it if you want an agent that actually does things; skip it if you just want a chat.
Verified 7d ago · liveness 80/100 · cite: rightaichoice.com/tools/the-2025-state-of-ai
- Tech enthusiasts wanting a personal AI assistant with real-world agency
- Power users who automate email, scheduling, and social media
- Developers comfortable with open-source self-hosting and CLI
- Individuals seeking a private, customizable AI companion
- Users wanting a simple app-based chat interface only
- Those unwilling to configure skills or learn assistant management
- People needing extensive cloud IDE or code execution features
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Skip Vellum if you want a simple chat interface like ChatGPT without setting up an assistant, don't want to deal with credits and configuration, or need multi-user collaboration features.
Credits are pay-as-you-go ($1 = 1 credit). AI responses, web searches, and image generation all consume credits, which adds up fast if you use it heavily.
Vellum's freemium pricing fits tech enthusiasts who want real-world agency but are willing to configure. At $30/mo, Mighty offers 10 GB storage and $25 credits, cheaper than similar agent platforms but more expensive than basic chatbots like ChatGPT Plus ($20/mo). For power users needing more compute, Super and Ultra ($100/$200) provide larger computers and credits, but the $10 platform fee on those tiers can be a surprise.
In short
The 2025 State of AI — Personal AI assistant with real-world agency, voice mode, and camera sharing. Best for Tech enthusiasts wanting a personal AI assistant with real-world agency, Power users who automate email, scheduling, and social media, Developers comfortable with open-source self-hosting and CLI. Free to start; paid plans from $30/mo.
What's new in The 2025 State of AI
Checked 7 days agoAcross the latest 1 update: 1 feature update.
What people actually say about The 2025 State of AI — is it worth it?
We ran a structured research pass across product reviews, community discussions, and post-purchase forum threads to surface the patterns vendors won't publish themselves. Below: the recurring strengths, the hidden costs people mention most, and the cohort that consistently regrets adopting this tool.
42 mentions across 4 sources (Hacker News, Product Hunt, Bluesky, Lemmy) · researched Jul 5, 2026.
- +Proactive heartbeat checks reminders up to 10 times daily.
- +Self-writing skills autonomously from memory and past interactions.
- +Real-world actions: send emails, make calls, post on social media.
- +Build web apps from conversation (e.g., habit tracker).
- +Native Slack rendering supports tables and images.
- −Extremely limited direct user feedback available online.
- −Name collision with other reports causes confusion in search and discussion.
- −Setup complexity may overwhelm non-technical users.
- −Reliability and support quality completely unverified by community.
- −No dedicated community forums or active GitHub issue tracker visible.
- • Pay-as-you-go inference credits can accumulate beyond subscription
- • Self-hosting requires own infrastructure and maintenance overhead
Viability Score
How well maintained and how widely used is The 2025 State of AI? Built from what the vendor actually publishes (docs, changelog, tutorials, integrations, pricing), whether the site is live, and how much real users discuss it. How we calculate this
Last calculated: August 2026
How we score →Key Features
- Voice calls with live camera sharing (v0.11.3)
- Multilingual speech recognition (v0.11.3)
- Subagent roles with built-in guardrails (v0.11.3)
- Proactive heartbeat checks reminders up to 10x/day
- Memory graph visualizes assistant's knowledge
- Bookmarks for saving messages
- Personal knowledge base remembers preferences and facts
- Self-writing skills: assistant creates and edits skills from memory
- Phone calls with assistant's own voice
- Email management: read, triage, draft, send
- Social media posting and thread reading (X/Twitter)
- Web app building from conversation (e.g., habit tracker)
- Browser extension for acting on open tabs
- Voice interaction: push-to-talk or always-listening
- Calendar integration for daily briefings (Google Calendar)
About The 2025 State of AI
Vellum is a personal AI assistant platform that lives in the secure Vellum Cloud, has its own identity, and takes real-world actions on your behalf. It comes with its own email address, subdomain, and the ability to send emails, make phone calls, post to social media, build web apps, and more. Setup takes minutes: you name your assistant, shape its personality, and it progressively reveals capabilities through a skill-based architecture that even allows it to write new skills from memory. Version 0.11.3 (August 2026) adds live camera sharing in voice calls, multilingual speech recognition, and consolidated subagent roles with built-in guardrails. Voice Mode lets you interact hands-free—push-to-talk or always-listening—and with camera sharing, your assistant can see your world during calls. The memory graph provides an interactive view of your assistant's knowledge, and bookmarks let you quickly save important messages. Vellum is open-source with self-hosting options, and it offers a freemium pricing model starting with a free Base tier.
Behind the Verdict
Vellum is not just another chatbot; it's a platform for people who want their AI to do things. The standout features are the real-world agency (email, phone calls, social media posting) and the proactive heartbeat that checks reminders up to 10 times daily. The memory graph and bookmarks help you manage what it knows, and the skill-based architecture means it can grow beyond its initial setup, even writing new skills from memory. For power users, the ability to self-host and the open-source nature give you full control. However, this power comes with complexity. You will need to configure skills, understand the credit system (where $1 = 1 credit, and every AI response, web search, or image generation consumes credits), and manage your assistant's permissions. The free tier is limited to a small computer (1 vCPU / 2 GiB) and 6 GiB storage, and while Mighty at $30/mo gives you more, the Super and Ultra tiers add a $10/mo platform fee for the subdomain and static IP. If you're not ready to invest time in setup and customization, Vellum might feel overwhelming. Where Vellum shines is for tech enthusiasts and developers who want an assistant that acts, not just talks. It's also great for individuals who prioritize privacy and want to self-host. But it's not for those who want a simple app-based chat or for teams needing collaboration features.
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Real-world workflow fit
Concrete scenarios for the personas The 2025 State of AI actually fits — and what changes day-one when you adopt it.
You want to automate your morning routine. You ask Vellum to 'start my day', and it pulls weather, calendar, and news into a personalized briefing. You also set a reminder via voice to buy groceries later.
Outcome: You get a concise morning briefing without manually checking multiple apps, and the reminder is set and checked by the proactive heartbeat throughout the day.
You connect your inbox to Vellum and ask it to 'check my email'. It reads, triages, and summarizes your messages, and drafts replies for your approval.
Outcome: You save hours each week by quickly skimming summaries and approving drafted replies, all from within the chat.
You deploy Vellum on your own VPS, configure your own API keys (BYOK via Baseten), and use the CLI to build custom skills for your workflow.
Outcome: You have full control over your assistant's data and compute, with the ability to extend it via custom skills and hooks, at no per-token cost beyond your own infrastructure.
Use Cases
- Automate your morning routine: Vellum pulls weather, calendar, and news into a personalized briefing.
- Build a fully interactive web app (e.g., a habit tracker) through conversation, no coding needed.
- Have your assistant monitor your inbox, triage emails, and draft replies using its own email address.
- Schedule and manage social media posts (X/Twitter) with automated drafting and replies.
- Make phone calls on your behalf (e.g., to reschedule appointments) using the assistant's own voice.
- Create a personal knowledge base that remembers facts and preferences across all conversations.
- Use Voice Mode for real-time spoken interactions with the assistant.
- Save important messages or facts as bookmarks for later reference.
Models Under the Hood
as of 2026-08-25
Limitations
- Credits are pay-as-you-go and can be a hidden cost for heavy users, as AI responses, web searches, and image generation all consume credits ($1 = 1 credit).
- The free Mighty tier includes a small computer with 1 vCPU / 2 GiB and 10 GB storage, with higher tiers (Super, Ultra) adding larger computers and storage but also a $10/mo platform fee.
- Plans include monthly credit bundles on Super and Ultra, with pay-as-you-go beyond that.
- Self-hosting is open source but requires deploying on your own hardware.
as of 2026-08-18
Verification history
We have re-verified The 2025 State of AI 6 times since . Each pass re-reads the vendor's own pages and re-checks every listed field against that evidence; passes where nothing had changed are marked as such.
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
Free to cite with attribution — this page re-verifies continuously.
12-month cost
Project the real annual outlay, including the implied monthly cost when only an annual tier is published.
Vendor list price only. Add-on usage, seat overages, and contract minimums are surfaced under Hidden costs & gotchas.
Plans compared
For each published The 2025 State of AI tier: who it actually fits, and what it adds vs. the previous tier. Cross-reference the cost calculator above for projected annual outlay.
Free
$0/mo
Ideal for
Solo explorer trying Vellum for the first time. Small computer (1 vCPU / 2 GiB) and 6 GiB storage is enough to test basic actions like weather and reminders without paying.
What this tier adds
Starting tier, free entry point with limited compute and storage, pay-as-you-go credits.
Mighty
$30/mo
Ideal for
Daily users who need more storage and credit bundle. $30/mo gives you 10 GB storage and $25 credits, suitable for regular email management and reminders.
What this tier adds
Adds 10 GB storage, $25 in credits per month, and no platform fee.
Super
$100/mo
Ideal for
Power users who need more compute and storage, plus assistant email and subdomain. $100/mo includes medium computer (2.5 vCPU / 5 GiB) and 30 GB storage.
What this tier adds
Upgrades to medium computer, 30 GB storage, $45 credit bundle, and includes assistant email and subdomain. Adds $10/mo platform fee.
Ultra
$200/mo
Ideal for
Heavy users who need maximum compute and storage, $200/mo includes large computer (4 vCPU / 8 GiB) and 60 GB storage.
What this tier adds
Upgrades to large computer, 60 GB storage, $115 credit bundle, includes assistant email and subdomain. Adds $10/mo platform fee.
Custom Plan
Configure
Ideal for
Users with unique needs who want to configure compute and storage exactly as they work. Contact sales for a tailored plan.
What this tier adds
Flexible compute and storage options beyond standard tiers.
Where the pricing makes sense
The company stage and team size where The 2025 State of AI's pricing actually pencils out — and where peers do it cheaper.
Vellum's freemium pricing fits tech enthusiasts who want real-world agency but are willing to configure. At $30/mo, Mighty offers 10 GB storage and $25 credits, cheaper than similar agent platforms but more expensive than basic chatbots like ChatGPT Plus ($20/mo). For power users needing more compute, Super and Ultra ($100/$200) provide larger computers and credits, but the $10 platform fee on those tiers can be a surprise.
Setup time & first value
How long it actually takes to get something useful out of The 2025 State of AI — broken out by persona, not the marketing-page minute.
For a tech enthusiast: 5 minutes to sign up, meet your assistant, and do something useful like checking the weather. For a power user who wants to connect email and calendar: about 15-30 minutes to set up OAuth and permissions. For a developer self-hosting: 1-2 hours to deploy on a VPS and configure BYOK.
Switching to or from The 2025 State of AI
How to bring data in from common predecessors and how to get it back out — written for the switcher, not the buyer.
- →From ChatGPT: Export your conversations via ChatGPT's export feature, then import them into Vellum's workspace to preserve context.
- →From a basic assistant like Mem: Use Vellum's memory graph to manually add key facts, or just start fresh—Vellum learns quickly from your conversations.
- ↗To another assistant: Export your workspace data (memories, config, skills) at any time, then import into a compatible platform.
- ↗To a full self-hosted setup: Download your Vellum Cloud data and deploy the open-source version on your own hardware, using your own API keys.
Integrations
Resources & Guides
Tutorials & Learning
Tools that pair well with The 2025 State of AI
Common stack mates teams adopt alongside The 2025 State of AI, with the specific reason each pairing earns its keep.
Featured Head-to-Head Comparisons
The 2025 State Of Ai vs Locus Robotics
These tools are apples and oranges. Locus Robotics tackles physical warehouse productivity with proven AMRs and RaaS, while Vellum (its 2025 State of AI) is a personal digital assistant for automating online tasks. Choose Locus if you run a high-volume fulfillment center; choose Vellum if you want an AI that actually sends emails and makes calls for you.
The 2025 State Of Ai vs Truleo
Choose Truleo if you're a law enforcement agency needing to connect siloed data and automatically generate case leads, report writing, and jail call analysis. Choose The 2025 State of AI (Vellum) if you're an individual seeking a proactive, autonomous personal assistant that handles email, calls, and social media. They serve completely different domains — Truleo is a specialized investigation tool, Vellum is a broad personal productivity AI.
The 2025 State Of Ai vs Presto Voice
If you're a tech-savvy individual wanting a proactive AI assistant that manages emails, calls, and tasks autonomously, The 2025 State of AI is your pick. For QSR operators aiming to boost drive-thru revenue and efficiency with proven voice AI, Presto Voice is the clear winner—just expect enterprise pricing. Choose based on your domain: personal productivity vs. restaurant operations.
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