Here’s what happened and why

In the year There is little question that 2023 was the year of artificial intelligence (AI). Collins Dictionaries has named AI its word of the year, describing AI-powered language models as “entering the public consciousness” in 2023 and “being talked about a lot.”

Wikipedia, the Internet encyclopedia, ChatGPT – one of the top AI chatbots on the market – is the most viewed page in English of the year, with 49.5 million views.

AI has been on everyone's radar this year, but keeping up with technological advancements at the speed of light hasn't been easy.

Cointelegraph decided to look at 2023 through the lens of AI, focusing on key developers, new regulations in place, the affected culture and of course conflicts and scandals.

Sit back, grab some Christmas cookies, and read how the year unfolded.

Development and developers

The genesis of the modern AI era can be found starting November 30, 2022 when OpenAI releases AI chatbot ChatGPT for free for public use.

It was a long time before the release of AI ChatGPT, but this was an important moment, the general public now has access to a powerful AI chatbot. With nearly 100 million weekly users by 2023, ChatGPT soon became a household name.

The company unveiled its most powerful version in March – ChatGPT 4 – rumored to work on 1.76 trillion parameters.

Although revenues have increased in parallel with the ChatGPT explosion, OpenAI maintains a non-profit status. In the year In 2022, the company reports revenue of $28 million, which will reach a whopping $1 billion by 2023.

This was what prompted the competition among the industry's technology giants to deploy and develop the most powerful models to dominate the market.

In March 2023, Google released Bard, a competitor to ChatGPT. First based on Google's LaMDA family of large language models (LLMs), it evolved into PALM and finally Gemini – the most powerful to date – released in December.

In July, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram launched its own advanced LLM, called Meta Lama 2. In February 2023, Microsoft released Bing AI Chat, a built-in feature in Bing and the Edge browser, which has been renamed again. Pilot in September.

The startup Anthroponic released its Claude AI model in March, which was quickly succeeded by the Claude 2 in July. Anthroponic has received major investments, including $2 billion from Google by 2023.

According to data from Statista, the AI ​​market is expected to reach $241.8 billion by 2023, with an annual growth rate of 17.3 percent by 2030.

Related: Google's Gemini, OpenAI's ChatGPT go head-to-head in Cointelegraph challenge

Rules

With every major breakthrough that affects society globally, comes a parade of regulatory watchers. Governments around the world have spent the past year regulating AI, though few have implemented any laws.

European Union

The EU became one of the first regions to pass legislation regulating the deployment and development of advanced AI models. The EU's AI law, which was announced in April 2023, was first proposed and approved by parliament in June after negotiators in the European Parliament and Council reached an interim agreement on the law on December 8.

EU AI legislation regulates the governmental use of AI in biometric control, regulates large AI systems such as ChatGPT and sets transparency rules that developers must follow before entering the market.

As the EU rushes to become the first superpower to regulate AI, it has received pushback from local EU tech alliances. In June, the first regulations sparked an open letter from 160 tech executives. In both cases, EU regulators have been asked to reconsider strict rules to support more flexibility in the interest of innovation.

Lothar Dettermann, a partner at Baker McKenzie, Palo Alto, and author of Dettermann's Field Guide to Artificial Intelligence Law, told Cointelegraph:

The EU is trying hard to be the first to regulate AI, but France and other member states are insisting that they want Europe to innovate instead.

“After the announcements on December 9 that the EU AI law is final,” various concerns and misunderstandings have been raised. For now, EU AI legislation remains ‘vapor'.

united states

The United States has not yet officially issued any regulations. However, on October 30, the Biden administration issued an executive order establishing six new standards for AI safety and security aimed at the ethical use of AI in government.

Industry insiders called Biden's executive order “certainly challenging for companies and developers,” especially for the open source community, as the order was less straightforward for developers in this space.

Determan added:

“While many policymakers and analysts focus on the opportunities of new AI laws, organizations must focus on the requirements and risk mitigation needs of existing laws.”

China

China has wasted no time in developing regulations. The Chinese government first issued guidelines in April, which were later revised and took effect on August 15.

Later, in October, China issued draft security regulations for companies providing generative AI services that included restrictions on data sources used for AI model training.

These regulations have paved the way for the development of local development. Since the release of the first rules, the CEO of China's tech giant Baidu said that more than 70 AI models have been released in the country.

At the global level, the United Nations has introduced an international initiative to address the challenges in AI governance; In November, the UK hosted the world's first AI Security Summit with high-profile guests. And the Group of Seven, or G7, countries have issued an official AI code of conduct.

Art and culture

In the year By 2023, AI has infiltrated all aspects of modern life, including art and culture.

The year saw the addition and improvement of some of the most powerful AI-generated tools on the market. Midjourney has released its latest version 6, OpenAI's Dall-E has also received a refresh with the latest ChatGPT update.

Medium trip

December 2022 (v4): December 2023 (v6): pic.twitter.com/Q2WpvZK4xN

— Nick St. Pierre (@nickfloats) December 21, 2023

In November, Meta introduced new AI-powered tools for video generation and image editing for social media users.

However, in 2023, no industry was as shaken up in the art world as the music industry. The year saw a number of AI music tools from big developers like Meta and Google, as well as independent projects.

In April, singer Grimes became the first major music star to announce that she would split 50% of royalties with creators who generate AI music using her voice. After this, Grimes launched Elf.Tech, an open-source software program dedicated to legally replicating her voice for AI music creation.

HOW WE DID MUSIC FEAT GrimesAI – WE DISTRIBUTE FOR YOU AND YOU CAN GET ROYALTY FROM YOUR WORK: https://t.co/p598CXaXnD

— Princess Irulen ® (@Grimezsz) April 30, 2023

However, not everyone in the industry took Grimes' side. International labels such as Universal Music Group are on the hunt for creators who infringe on artists' rights through the illegal use of AI sound reproduction.

The Grammys have clarified the rules on AI-generated music that will be eligible for award nominations. In an interview with Cointelegraph, Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. reiterated, “The Academy's role has always been to protect the creative and musical communities.”

However, one of the most memorable moments came in November when Universal Music released the Beatles' final song, “Now and Then,” with the help of AI to produce John Lennon's vocals.

‘Now and Then' by @thebeatles is now available to listen worldwide. pic.twitter.com/W89VgBh8Gv

— Paul McCartney (@PaulMcCartney) November 2, 2023

conflicts and scandals

The emergence of accessible and powerful AI has also brought about conflicts and scandals in court, firing and hiring, misleading marketing and more.

Charges

Many copyright-related lawsuits were filed in 2023 by artists and creators complaining that AI models were illegally feeding off their work for training purposes.

These copyright lawsuits have involved all the leading developers, including Google, Meta, Microsoft, Anthroponic and OpenAI.

In July, Google was also named in a class-action lawsuit alleging it violated the privacy and property rights of millions of internet users after it updated its privacy policy with data-scraping capabilities for the purpose of AI training.

Similarly, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists ended its strike over negotiations over the use of IE production. The 118-day strike was one of the longest in the union's history, and despite its conclusion, much of Hollywood was divided over the terms.

Open AI management mix

In late November, OpenAI shook up the industry, but this time it wasn't because of a new product release. OpenAI's founder and CEO Sam Altman was suddenly fired from the company's board of directors in a sudden move that shocked fans and investors alike.

The public, investors, users and company employees were outraged by the move, and more than half of OpenAI's employees said they were ready to leave.

However, two days later, after Microsoft responded by hiring Altman, OpenAI reinstated him as CEO and replaced the board. The initial motive for the shooting is not yet known.

It's been a crazy year.

I'm grateful that we put a tool in the world that people really love and get a lot of use out of.

Moreover, I am happy that 2023 is the year the world starts taking AI seriously.

— Sam Altman (@sama) December 21, 2023

Gemini fake promo video and deep fake

Google has released a major update to its AI model dubbed Gemini. It has three incarnations: nano, pro and ultra. It was a long-awaited moment from the AI ​​community, as it surpassed OpenAI's GPT-4 and was touted as a “GPT killer”.

When it was released, it came with flashy videos showcasing its skills. However, Internet trolls say Gemini has run out of steam and called Google. The tech company responded by saying it had boosted trading for a “short-term” period.

In the year In 2023, a more serious type of fake is the proliferation of AI-generated deep fakes. According to data from SumSub, deep fakes will increase 10x across all industries globally from 2022 to 2023.

Regionally, this is a deep lie increase of 1,740% in North America, 1,530% in Asia Pacific, 780% in Europe (including the UK), 450% in the Middle East and Africa and 410% in Latin America.

Related: AI Deep Fake Nudity Services Rise in Popularity: Report

And in 2023, with all the ups and downs of AI, so much has happened that even the Pope has something to say about it.

As this technology continues to develop rapidly, 2024 will be equally packed and exciting. Expect 2024 AI predictions from industry insiders for what to expect in the coming year.

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