2023 in review: generative AI dominating the world of technology
Technology journalist Chris Stokel-Walker looks back at the biggest tech stories that captivated peoples' attention in 2023.
Transcript
00:00 There is no doubt that the world of technology was dominated by one thing in 2023, and that is artificial intelligence.
00:08 As we enter 2024, many experts are predicting more turmoil as the technology rapidly develops with increased debate over regulation.
00:16 Chris Stokel Walker is a tech writer.
00:19 We've seen huge numbers of competitors, both in the tech space, chat space, but also in sort of image generation, video creation, audio.
00:29 All sorts of other places. And it is notable to see that actually Google is starting to get back into the game,
00:35 releasing a new version of their chat bot called Gemini, which is attempting to try and claw back some of that control from chat GPT.
00:44 Twenty twenty three saw a huge amount of hand wringing around the world over regulation.
00:50 I mean, realistically, is it ever really possible for regulators to keep up with such a fast changing technology?
01:00 It is incredibly difficult, Jamie, isn't it? We have two sort of twin tracks that are running at very different speeds.
01:07 So on one hand, we have big tech whose informal motto.
01:11 And this was literally the motto of Metta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram.
01:15 And what's up for a period of time is move fast and break things.
01:19 They love the word disrupt as well as a kind of terminology for what they're doing.
01:24 But on the other side of the argument, we have regulators who have to take time, go through due processes,
01:32 think through the ramifications and the impacts of everything that they do.
01:36 And those two things often don't match up.
01:39 Once you develop some laws for one element of technology, there is a whole other realm of technology that crops up.
01:44 And you don't have anything to cover yourself for that.
01:47 Do you think we understand what AI is truly capable of yet?
01:53 Are we developing this technology and we know how to keep a handle on it?
01:56 Or are we developing something at such speed and without any sort of checks and balances that actually it could become superhuman?
02:06 And it could in time become more intelligent than us and potentially actually enslave us all.
02:12 Now, it's worth pointing out that point of view is very much a minority view in the world of AI.
02:17 But it is one that those who hold hold very, very strongly.
02:21 And I think we don't fully know.
02:24 Let's look into 2024 and what it holds.
02:28 Some have said that this will be a new era, an age of disruption.
02:34 What what do you expect? If we look back at the 12 months of 2023,
02:39 I think we'll think in hindsight that was not much disruption at all in light of what will happen in 2024.
02:46 The other thing that's worth bearing in mind in terms of disruption is the way that we live.
02:52 We've heard over many years now the promise and the potential of the metaverse,
02:57 a virtual and augmented reality universe that we could all inhabit.
03:01 Mark Zuckerberg literally renamed his company from Facebook to Meta back a couple of years ago in order to try and capitalize on that.
03:10 There hasn't been that fulfillment of that promise so far,
03:15 but we do have an inkling that there could potentially be some movement here.
03:21 Back in July, Apple announced that they were unveiling a virtual reality headset called the Apple Vision Pro.
03:29 That is not yet released.
03:31 It will be released, we understand, in early 2024.
03:34 It costs an awful lot of money, three and a half thousand dollars.
03:36 But for those who want to, that could be a game changing technology.
03:41 Remember, Apple invented the iPhone, the iPad, overhauled the way that we think of smartphones and of tablet computers.
03:48 And there are some that believe they could do something similar here.