We come to the last list in the 2023 roundup. For the last entry we list the 10 biggest news stories that happened this year. The majority will impact the technology landscape of 2024 and beyond.
1. Generative AI Is the Hottest Technology of 2023.
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is the hottest technology of 2023. Just like NFT in 2022 and metacity in 2021. Unlike the previous two topics, interest in AI increased hundreds of fold since the end of 2022 when ChatGPT became popular. Starting with a chatbot that can write for anyone, now we see AI that can produce images, edit photos, produce music, predict the weather up to 10 days accurately, detect cancer faster and threaten human careers.
The issue of intellectual property involving AI is also hotly discussed with a lawsuit involving dozens of prominent authors against OpenAI who allegedly trained their AI models using their work without permission. This issue is also faced by developers of generative AI that generates images.
In Hollywood the use of AI to generate film scripts has become a major contentious topic that has led to a nationwide strike by the writers' union WGA. They were later joined by actors union SAG-AFTRA which does not allow members' 3D scans to be used in films without permission. Both of these issues were successfully resolved but caused dozens of production delays.
Microsoft was the first company to offer ChatGPT integration on all products under the Bing Chat umbrella before changing to Copilot. They are willing to change the original plan of not updating Windows 10 simply to provide Copilot to more users. Google, Meta, Apple, Stability AI, Microsoft, Samsung and many other major technology companies also announced their new LLM models to attract customers and not want to be left behind in the AI war.
The topic of AI is actually too large and diverse to be placed in just one topic. So below are some more big news stories about AI that we feel deserve to be placed in their own “important news” category.
2. The OpenAI Debacle – The Most Confused Week In AI History
The power struggle at OpenAI should be given a separate entry because it is like the storyline of the Samarinda drama in the afternoon. Starting with the surprise announcement that founder Sam Altman was fired by a board of directors for alleged dishonesty in communications about the future of the company. This was followed by the immediate resignation of co-founder Greg Brockman.
Then Microsoft announced the establishment of a special division for AI which will be led by Altman and Brockman. Hundreds of OpenAI employees later signed an open letter asking Altman to return as CEO. In less than 24 hours, Altman and Brockman returned to OpenAI with the board fired! Confusion about the future of OpenAI became the hottest topic of conversation in the tech world until their announcement was said to have successfully created an AGI Q* that can solve seemingly buried mathematical problems.
3. The Five Levels of AGI Are Classified And The First Level Has Been Achieved
Brain
AI is the hottest topic of the year but it will soon be replaced by artificial general intelligence (AGI). Scientists from DeepMind suggest five levels of AGI classification, namely emerging, competent, expert, virtuoso and superhuman. At this time emerging level AGI has been achieved by ChatGPT and Bard which can perform some tasks as well or better than humans.
To reach the highest level of superhuman, AGI needs to be able to accurately predict the future (such as DeepMind's GraphCast AI weather forecast), talk to animals and read human minds. There was a time when the ability to generate realistic images using text was considered impossible. It is now a daily reality. When do you think AGI with a superhuman level will appear?
4. Crypto Figures Jailed for Corruption
Two years ago crypto entered people's daily vocabulary. It is seen as the key to economic freedom and can turn anyone into a millionaire. Just need to buy crypto and sell at high price. To support the crypto economy various investment companies have mushroomed like Binance and FTX with founders becoming instant billionaires.
This year saw FTX founder Sam Bankman Freed (SBF) and Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) sentenced to prison for white-collar offenses. Bankman-Freed faces up to 115 years in prison for offenses involving money laundering and online fraud. CZ was fined $50 million, 18 months in prison and Binance was fined $4.3 billion for money laundering and violating sanctions imposed by the United States. Luna and TerraUSD crypto founder Do Kwon has also been arrested for his involvement in a fraud that caused $40 billion in losses.
Because of the FTX scandal, the value of cryptocurrencies plummeted causing various investment companies and individual investors to bear huge losses. Just this month the value of Bitcoin reached RM204,000 and seems quite stable. Is this a sign that we will return to the moon or sell immediately to avoid repeating the past mistakes?
5. The Oceangate tragedy
The drama of the disappearance of five passengers of the Titan submarine that took tourists to the wreck of the Titanic is a mid-year drama that is the talk of the world. It ended in tragedy after it was confirmed to have exploded based on the scattered debris. The United States Coast Guard (USCG) believes Titan exploded due to sea pressure reaching 380 times higher than atmospheric pressure. All five crew members were also confirmed dead with only pieces found.
Initially the stern cone of the Titan was found 1700 feet from the bow of the Titanic before more debris was spotted scattered on the sea floor. After the tragedy ended, various information emerged about how Stockton Rush, Titan's designer used unconfirmed technology on this submarine. He was warned that the design of the Titanic was not up to standard and dangerous for the passengers carried on the Titanic. A film about the Ocenagate tragedy is currently in pre-production.
6. Twitter Becomes X And Everything Goes Awry
Elon Musk bought Twitter last year and within a year he had a dream to turn it into a super app like WeChat. As the owner, he then took the drastic decision to change the name of the platform to X. This also caused Tweetdeck to be rebranded as X Pro and Twitter Blue as X Premium. Free API access was also cut off leaving third-party apps like Tweetbot dead. The feature to share URLs to Twitter from WordPress and PlayStation was also discontinued this year due to API changes.
As a move to generate more revenue, some new X Premium plans have been announced especially after many companies pulled advertising due to a tweet sent by Elon Musk himself. The future of X looks a little dark in early 2023 especially after Threads was launched by Meta. But it can be seen at this time that X is still intact despite the reported reduction in income.
2024 will be even more challenging for X/Twitter as many advertisers refuse to go home. All that remains are low-quality ads selling products that can be categorized as unattractive.
7. The Technology War between China and the United States is getting sharper
China America
Many thought that with Joe Biden replacing Donald Trump, trade relations between China and the United States would return to normal. Instead, the technological barriers imposed by the Biden administration are more stringent than those of the Trump era.
The banning of the TikTok app from devices owned by public servants is being enforced across America with Montana seeking to ban it directly from state residents but was overruled by the courts. The TikTok CEO was asked to answer various questions about securities on Capitol Hill in March.
Then America blocked the sale of lithography machines producing chips to China before also blocking the sale of AI chips produced by AMD and NVIDIA to the same country. Both used the excuse of "maintaining national security" because they were worried that this technology would be used for military purposes.
China responded by reducing sales of gallium and germanium needed for chip production. At the same time Huawei managed to produce 7nm and 5nm chips through SMIC using its own technology as a sign that American technology barriers may be in vain.
8. NFT and Metamesta Losing Momentum
The world's trend towards artificial intelligence (AI) this year has led to metastases and NFT investment being increasingly forgotten. The new Quest 3 headset was launched by Meta but didn't get much attention from the public. Mark Zuckerberg also focused more on several projects such as Meta AI, Audiocraft, Imagebind, Emu and Imagine. No big announcements about Meta Horizon Worlds have been made except that it will finally be accessible through a web browser.
Bytedance is reducing the number of employees involved in the development of Pico headsets due to reduced demand for VR sets. Interest in the Apple Vision Pro is also lukewarm, not helped by its selling price which reaches RM16,000 a pair. Metaspace momentum quickly dissipated in 2023 in line with the fate of NFTs.
NFTs that were hot like fried bananas last year have become a forgotten technology in 2023. dappGambl's study found that 95% of NFTs produced have no value. OpenSEA, the most popular NFT platform, is shedding 50% of its staff due to increasing demand. With NFT no longer seen as "cool", it was also no longer supported on Instagram and Facebook last April.
9. Malaysia's 5G Era Is Growing Even Though Less Used
5G Malaysia
The 5G era in Malaysia started optimistically and ended with it almost reaching the target of 80% of populated areas. Although the implementation of 5G in Malaysia was delayed due to the pandemic, it can now be used with our country having the world's third fastest 5G speed according to Ookla's report.
New 5G plans have also been announced by several major telecommunications companies. The public's response to 5G was less encouraging with Fahmi Fadzil saying it was only used around 4.2% last September. This is because many do not yet own a 5G device and the subscription price is expensive. The Ministry of Communications then gave a warning that additional payments to access 5G are inappropriate and that telco companies may be subject to action.
It is also interesting to see PETRONAS being the first to use a private 5G network for industrial use. This private 5G network is used by PETRONAS at the Regasification Terminal at Sungai Udang (RGTSU) in Melaka. It allows data to be collected and real-time monitoring to be done.
Early next year Malaysia's second 5G network will also be launched but currently the entity involved has not been confirmed but it is believed to involve Huawei until Malaysia receives a warning letter from the United States and the EU.
10. Layoffs Continue
At the beginning of 2023, many expect the economy to recover because the pandemic has been successfully "defeated". It is no longer taken seriously with the wearing of face masks no longer being mandatory and daily new case reports no longer being reported by the mainstream media. The Covid-19 pandemic has been replaced by a pandemic as major technology companies continue the trend of 2022 by laying off tens of thousands of workers.
Meta, Amazon, Google, Twitter, Spotify, Grab, Foodpanda and Disney are shedding a large number of employees as part of restructuring the company's operations after the pandemic. There are companies that threaten to fire employees who refuse to return to the office. Although the economy is showing signs of returning to pre-pandemic levels, many still seem to be on edge as their careers can come to an abrupt halt. It is hoped that 2024 will start with more cheerful news with no news of mass layoffs.