Happy New Year 2026!

Alhamdhlillaahi! What a year 2025 has been. If 2024 felt fast, 2025 somehow managed to move even quicker. At this point, I’m convinced time accelerates in direct proportion to responsibility, uncertainty, and the number of things you’re juggling at once.

As always, the end of the year calls for reflection — and my annual New Year blog post paired with light graffiti. This year felt particularly full: me and my wife’s complete year living together as a married couple, a year that began with anxiety and ended with relief, and a year where AI continued to weave itself deeper into both my professional and personal life.

So, without further ado, here’s my 2025.

Life & Marriage

2025 marked our first full year living together with my wife, and Alhamdhlillaahi, that alone made the year deeply meaningful. Living together full-time is very different from visits, short stays, or long-distance phases. You slowly settle into routines, learn how the other person handles stress, and start appreciating the small everyday comforts that come from simply being together.

The year didn’t begin easily for her career-wise. In December 2024, she had received a job offer, but hadn’t accepted it at the time as she wanted to explore more offers — a decision that made sense at the time but later became a source of stress. Unfortunately, no new offer came immediately after, and we found ourselves in an unexpected waiting period.

Things became more complicated when we suddenly discovered that MMDC had quietly reduced the required duration to obtain a permanent medical license from one year to six months, without any public announcement. This posed a serious problem. Because of the limited exam windows each month, this change meant my wife would effectively have only one attempt to sit for her licensing exam before her provisional license expired.

That was obviously not reasonable.

After carefully reviewing the regulations, timelines, and implications, I ended up making a formal legal and procedural argument to MMDC on her behalf, highlighting how legally questionable, unfair and impractical the situation was, especially given the lack of prior notice. Alhamdhlillaahi, the response was positive. MMDC granted an additional six months to all provisional license holders, and the change was later formally gazetted, making national news in the process.

The irony of it all was that my wife didn’t even need the extension. Alhamdhlillaahi, she sat for the licensing exam and aced it on her very first attempt, and by April, she finally secured her job. After months of uncertainty, that moment felt like an enormous weight lifted off our shoulders. Looking back, the delay in my wife getting a job meant that we got more time to spend together as a couple, after years of her living abroad studying and doing her internship. Alhamdhlillaahi, a blessing in disguise.

This year also brought loss, as my wife’s grandfather passed away in October after a long and difficult battle with chronic illness over the past three years.

Travel

Our first trip of the year was a three-day visit to Cochin in February, travelling with my in-laws primarily for medical reasons. This was my first time in South India, having previously only visited Delhi. The trip started with a small frustration when we realized that Maldivians travelling visa-free can’t buy local SIM cards, making basic things like navigation and ride-hailing unnecessarily difficult. India really needs to address this.

Once we settled in, Cochin surprised me in many good ways. The malls were genuinely impressive, the food scene was enjoyable, and we made the most of hopping between different eateries. One of the most emotional moments of the trip was visiting my five-year-old cousin, who was staying in India undergoing treatment for leukemia. Alhamdhlillahi, he has since recovered and returned to Maldives.

My wife and I stayed only two nights, as we had initially booked the tickets assuming she would already be working by then. The rest of the family stayed close to ten days, and after returning to Maldives, we stayed at my in-laws’ place to “babysit” my brother-in-law until everyone returned.

February also included a lovely evening trip to Bandos for a close friend’s wedding, which was short but memorable.

In April, we celebrated Eid together with my wife and family for the first time, something that felt especially meaningful now that we were living together.

In September, my wife and I went on a one-night trip to Adaaran Prestige Vaadoo. Originally, we were meant to visit Villa Nautica with the rest of the family, but by the time her leave was approved, the resort was fully booked. We decided to turn it into a private getaway instead, and it turned out to be perfect. It was our first time staying in an overwater bungalow, and by chance, we met a relative working at the water sports centre there. He took us snorkeling, where we saw countless fish and even eagle rays, and even gave us a free SeaBob ride. The food was excellent, and overall it was one of the most relaxing trips we’ve taken together.

In October, I travelled to my island for a work trip to conduct AI workshops for the school and council. What was meant to be a three-day trip turned into five days due to bad weather and flight availability — a gentle reminder that island travel still runs on its own schedule. This was an especially unique trip as this was the first time I was travelling to my own island on an official capacity. And it was the first time I travelled away from my wife since she had returned from her internship.

November brought a more worrying trip. My wife began experiencing wrist pain, and given her history of a ganglion cyst excision, further MRI scans in Maldives raised concerns. Three orthopaedic surgeons suspected Kienböck disease, which was understandably frightening. We were referred to a wrist specialist abroad, so in December, we travelled to Coimbatore with my wife and mother in law. The journey itself was long, involving a flight to Cochin followed by a three-and-a-half-hour Uber ride to Coimbatore.

After additional MRI scans, Alhamdhlillaahi, it turned out that it was not full Kienböck disease, and surgery was not required at the moment. The doctor recommended immobilizing the wrist for three months, with one month in a cast. Since surgery wasn’t needed, we cut the trip short. On our final night, we had dinner at Radisson Blu Coimbatore, enjoying an all-you-can-eat kebab feast that felt like a quiet celebration. On the way back to Cochin, we hired the same Uber driver, who turned out to be a former software developer and had given me his contact, before flying back home to Maldives.

Academics & Achievements

January began on a positive note with my appointment to the ICT Sector Council by MNSDA. Throughout the year, I worked closely on approving curriculum for the National Diploma in AI, represented MNSDA at the Tech4Ed Digital Maturity Assessment Workshop workshop focused on education technology policy, and later contributed to the ongoing development work of AI Certificate Level 3 and Level 4 curricula.

In February, I had the opportunity to be a panel member in a breakout session on careers in science at Ghiyasuddin International School’s careers fair, and I hope I was able to inspire at least a few young minds along the way.

Mid-year, I was given the opportunity to write a book chapter on AI for Small Island Nations. I submitted my chapter in July, and I’m currently awaiting its publication, In Sha Allah.

In October, Yameen and I gave a talk at IGF 2025, where we shared how we built models for DhivehiGPT and discussed the challenges of working with low-resource languages.

November marked a major personal milestone when I received the Presidential Award for Special Achievement for securing first place in my MSc in Artificial Intelligence back in 2023. I was especially grateful that my wife and sister were able to attend with me. Two days before the award ceremony, my motorcycle had been towed — which resulted in the slightly absurd experience of visiting the tow yard wearing a suit.

Javaabu

2025 was a challenging yet successful year for Javaabu. During the year, two long-term team members and one newer member left, while three new members joined. Despite staffing challenges, we delivered more than ten major projects, including the AGO Website, Uthahi Waste Management Database, MSS Website, Ministry of Agriculture Website, Ministry of Environment website upgrades, Maldives Protected Areas website upgrades, and the ISLET Project Knowledge Repository.

Some projects experienced delays due to staffing changes, but the new team members stepped up well. Cashflow remained a persistent challenge due to government payment delays, and we were honestly kept afloat by DhivehiGPT revenue. There were moments where Jailam and I had to loan money to the company until payments were finally received.

This year, Javaabu also played a more visible role in contributing to national AI and technology policy discussions. A particularly proud moment was when Jailam was selected to join the Maldivian delegation to Estonia, representing the private sector alongside the President — a strong signal of growing trust in local technology companies. We were also given the opportunity to participate in policy discussions around the President’s newly announced Maldives 2.0 plan, allowing us to share perspectives from the ground and contribute to shaping the country’s digital future.

Apart from all the community outreach work we did, 2025 was also an important year for Javaabu’s CSR efforts. We were proud to sponsor Disc Wars 2025, a frisbee tournament organized by the Ultimate Frisbee Association of Maldives, as well as the Uligan Cup Men’s Futsal Tournament 2025 organized by the Secretariat of the Uligan Council. On the social impact front, we provided free DhivehiGPT subscriptions to the Blind and Visually Impaired Society of Maldives, enabling them to use the platform for their administrative work, and also extended free access to DhivehiGPT for Dhivehi PhD students and selected student publications to support research and language development. We also took part in the Ghiyasuddin International School Work Experience Program 2025, where two students joined us for a week, getting a small but meaningful glimpse into the kind of work we do at Javaabu.

Strategically, we’re now actively pivoting towards product-based work rather than relying purely on projects. The year also brought several proud moments: Jailam received a Presidential Recognition Award for ICT, Javaabu won the Next-Gen MSME Award, we held our Annual Dinner at Barceló Nasandhura, introduced health insurance for staff and their dependents, and issued annual bonus notices to the team.

DhivehiGPT & AI

DhivehiGPT became an even more central part of my life and Javaabu in 2025. We started the year with around 43,000 users and ended with over 96,000, approaching the 100,000 mark! We crossed one million prompts in May and reached two million prompts by the end of the year.

In March, we launched the OCR feature, and throughout the year, we participated in numerous expos and events. At Maldives Expo in May, we had a large and extremely popular stall, even receiving a visit from the President, and we were honoured to win three awards. We also attended the EduTech Expo at MNU in September, where we gave out DhivehiGPT merchandise, and later the Vara Expo in November.

We conducted AI awareness sessions across many islands, mostly led by Jailam, while I personally visited institutions such as Majeediyya School, Visit Maldives Corporation, Uligan School, and Uligan Council. Over the year, sessions were held in islands including L. Gan, HA. Hoarafushi, Adh. Mahibadhoo, HA. Uligan, Ga. Maamendhoo, Malé’, Sh. Bilehfahi, R. Maduvvari, and N. Maafaru.

We were also featured in a Chinese Law & Journalism magazine, discussing AI policy in South Asia. Alongside this, we had countless meetings advocating for policy changes to support Dhivehi AI technologies. Towards the end of the year, we started an AI research group at Javaabu, and In Sha Allah, we hope to see publications emerge from this work in the coming year.

Online Activism

I became noticeably more vocal online this year. Frustration over payment delays eventually led me to tweet about the issue, which, interestingly enough, resulted in the problem being resolved. I’ve generally become more active on Twitter, particularly on policy and governance issues.

During a government rally in November, I manually counted the attendees and tweeted the figure after the President claimed a much higher number. The tweet went viral, as my count showed around 5,500 people compared to the claimed 13,000. It also resulted in calls to me and some relatives from people in the administration itself, seemingly having hit a particularly sensitive nerve. Over the year, I also wrote blog posts about the new terminal, housing discrimination, and housing eligibility criteria, and spoke at the President’s meeting with SMEs. I used these platforms to advocate for better USD online transaction limits, fairer talent practices between SOEs and the private sector, improved health insurance options for SMEs, and clearer drone regulations. It turns out you really do just have to ask; on the last day of the year, Allied Insurance announced group health insurance plans for SMEs.

Photography & New Year’s Photo

I’ve been somewhat distant from photography this year due to work and an overall busy schedule. My wife recently gifted me a brand new drone, but unfortunately, I still haven’t been able to fly it thanks to regulatory bureaucracy.

This year’s New Year photo was taken at newly reclaimed Hulhumalé Phase 3. Since my wife was on duty, my nephew, my sister, and her fiancé stepped in to help with the photoshoot, making it a small family effort to keep the tradition alive.

Hope you enjoy the photo. You can download the full resolution image from my Flickr.

As always, thank you for reading.
In Sha Allah, may 2026 be even more blessed, peaceful, and successful for all of us.

Cheers, and Happy New Year 2026!