AI skills surge, security governance takes centre stage

O'Reilly has published the findings of its annual Technology Trends for 2025 report, offering data-driven insights into the most popular technology topics consumed among its 2.8 million users. The report analyzes platform usage to uncover which technology tools are gaining traction and which are losing relevance, empowering organizational leaders to stay informed and identify emerging trends that could influence their business decisions in the year ahead.

The 2025 report revealed a dynamic landscape of developer learning, with AI technologies driving the most significant shifts. Interest in related skills surged dramatically, with the most pronounced usage increases seen in topics like prompt engineering (456% increase), AI principles (386% increase), and generative AI (289% increase). Notably, use of content about GitHub Copilot soared by an impressive 471%, reflecting developers’ enthusiasm for tools that enhance productivity.

Among top AI topics, there was a marked decline in interest for GPT, which saw a 13% drop in usage and a similar downward trend in searches, indicating that developers are prioritizing foundational AI knowledge over platform-specific skills to effectively navigate across various AI models such as Claude, Google’s Gemini, and Llama. This year’s report also highlights the rapid rise of critical AI-related skills tied to LangChain and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), which have rapidly gained prominence and are now comparable in usage to established AI libraries like PyTorch and Keras. These advancements empower developers to build more sophisticated applications on top of AI models, marking the next frontier in AI development.

Security is another critical focus, with substantial growth across nearly all related search topics. Interest in governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) surged by 44%, while interest in compliance skills rose by 10%. Additionally, content related to application security grew by 17%, reflecting developers' commitment to securing all types of applications. The rise of the zero trust model, which saw a 13% increase in usage, illustrates a proactive approach to security that emphasizes strict authentication and access controls. Collectively, these trends indicate a significant shift toward comprehensive security strategies within organizations.

Additional findings from the report include:

Data engineering skills experienced a 29% increase, underscoring the critical role of data in powering AI applications.

There was a noticeable decline in traditional programming languages, with Python usage decreasing by 5.3% and Java dropping by 13%. However, Rust’s usage trends stood out, winning over developers with a 9.6% increase.

Security certifications remain the most popular recognized credentials, with increases in CISSP (11% growth) and CompTIA Security+ (13% growth).

Interest in cloud computing appears to have plateaued, with content use for the major cloud providers and their certifications down across all categories except Google Cloud certifications, which experienced 2.2% growth.

“This year marks a pivotal transition in technology, with AI evolving from generative capabilities to a transformative force reshaping how developers approach their craft,” said Mike Loukides, vice president of emerging technology content at O'Reilly and the report’s author. “As foundational skills gain prominence and organizations increasingly adopt comprehensive security practices, professionals must prioritize upskilling to effectively integrate these tools into their operations. The future is not about fearing AI's impact on jobs but in harnessing its potential to enhance productivity and drive innovation across industries.”