November 3, 2023
AI has been named the word of the year by Collins Dictionary.
Collins managing director Alex Beecroft said AI has been “the talking point of 2023” as it has become increasingly ubiquitous and embedded in our lives. Use of the term has quadrupled this year, the publisher said.
The announcement comes as U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hosts a summit to discuss how to maximize the benefits of AI while minimizing the risks. The Beatles have also used AI to help retrieve John Lennon’s vocals from an old cassette to create their “last song,” which will be released later this week.
The word of the year usually reflects the preoccupations of that time. In 2022, it was permacrisis in reference to the seemingly constant upheavals in British politics. The previous year saw chatter about NFTs (non-fungible tokens) reach its peak. And 2020 was dominated by the word lockdown.
Other words of the year contenders for 2023 included Bazball, canon event, debanking, deinfluencing, greedflation, nepo baby, semaglutide, ultraprocessed, and Ulez.
The sources for this piece include an article in BBC.
