Twenty-twenty-three's technology news was… a little off the beaten track. We've seen amazing technology developments, many approaches to regulatory reform, and at least some technology-related stories.
I'm sure 2023 will be the year of AI. This is the year we realized that AI is no longer the future, but is here now.
The year of AI began with ChatGPT building from 0 to 100 million users in just two months of operation, and now concludes with Australia's 'AI Month' (according to CSIRO). The month ends in mid-December with his introduction to Australian industry, government and government agencies. Academic AI development.
A lot has happened in between. We have seen debates about what AI is and is not, and we have seen vast exaggerations about what AI will mean for society, including questioning the very future of humanity. Ta.
This year has seen countless efforts to regulate AI, from the Biden administration's Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of AI to the EU AI Act.Multilateral forum challenges AI principles and regulations from UK-hosted Bletchley Park AI safety summit While agreeing with the G7 Leaders' Statement on the Hiroshima AI Process, AI has become an important topic on the international stage, including in ASEAN, the Quad, and AUKUS.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, national responses have taken precedence over multilateral announcements when it comes to the depth and detail of AI regulations, including more substantive US executive orders on AI. Guardrail agreements on the military use of AI were formally supported by many countries after being seen on the battlefields of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and with Israel targeting Hamas.
Another factor was the speed at which it spread. Consumer technology has spread through society at an unprecedented rate. Threads broke his ChatGPT record and became the fastest growing app in history, gaining over 100 million users in less than a week. Before that, TikTok held the record, reaching the goal in nine months, beating the years and nearly 10 years it took technologies like the internet, phone, and LinkedIn.
In November, it was announced that ChatGPT now has 100 million weekly active users and is used by 2 million developers, including more than 90 percent of Fortune 500 companies. However, this announcement was quickly followed by a four-day chaotic battle between OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and his board of directors that I have dubbed the “Sam Altman Saga.”
OpenAI's board of directors fired CEO and co-founder Sam Altman for not being “consistently candid.” Co-founder Greg Brockman was removed as chairman of the board and resigned from OpenAI. One of his interim CEOs was appointed in less than 48 hours, and another took over as Microsoft offered positions within the company to Mr. Altman and Mr. Brockman, as well as unnamed colleagues. More than $90 of OpenAI's employees signed a letter to the board of directors threatening to resign. A few days later, Altman returned as CEO.
The entire Sam Altman saga was reported in real time on X (formerly Twitter), showing that the platform retains some usefulness despite state propaganda and endless bots.
October 2023 was the year Musk took ownership of Twitter/X, wiping out $4 billion to $20 billion in value and committing “one of the biggest rebranding mistakes in history.” . X was removed from Australia's voluntary code of conduct on disinformation and misinformation after it removed the mechanism for reporting false information posted on its platform.
Musk did a lot of other crazy things.
He has espoused anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and on November 30 ordered Disney CEO Bob Iger and other fugitive advertisers to stop advertising on X and “fuck you.” . The move could result in a loss of $75 million in advertising revenue by the end of the year, as dozens of big brands pause their marketing campaigns. His controversial brain-computer interface company, Neuralink, has been approved for human clinical trials, while Mr. Musk has announced that his controversial brain-computer interface company, Neuralink, has been approved for human trials, despite its lower-than-promised range and higher price tag. , ended the year with the delivery of the long-awaited Tesla Cybertruck.
Cybersecurity dominates the landscape in Australia, with numerous cybersecurity incidents and the publication of the ambitious 2023-2030 Australian Cybersecurity Strategy. A cyberattack on DP World, Australia's largest port operator, grounded up to 40 per cent of the country's maritime cargo operations, while an Optus outage left millions of individuals and businesses without connectivity, leaving CEO was forced to resign.
What lies ahead for technology in 2024? In conclusion, Joanna Weaver and I hope that 2024 will be the year we think about technology holistically. I expect there will be a renewed focus on board governance, particularly as it relates to ethics and privacy considerations arising from her introduction of AI, cybersecurity, and technology.
There is widespread recognition that in 2023, there will be no AI without Big Tech. With few exceptions, all startups, new entrants, and even AI research institutes have a market to train their systems, deploy and sell their AI products. We rely on computing infrastructure from Microsoft, Amazon, and Google for our development. In 2024, I think there will be renewed vigor in understanding and challenging our reliance on technology from a variety of perspectives, including national security.
With more than 50% of the world expected to hold elections in 2024, misinformation and disinformation will continue to be a major challenge. Unfortunately, the outlook for 2024 doesn't look very good. We are witnessing what British authors call a change in approach to trusting evidence and authority, and US authors call a post-truth era. Given the failure of previous global efforts, there is no denying that more efforts are needed to address the digital environment's susceptibility to disinformation and interference.
Thanks to all the hype around data breaches, cyber(in)security, and AI, there is no doubt that 2023 will be the year that technology policy really goes mainstream and sparks conversation around the dinner table. In 2024, we expect the technology conversation to mature to holistically consider issues centered on reducing harm, leveraging opportunities, and improving governance mechanisms. The stakes are no more. How we decide to take advantage of opportunities, innovate, fail and recover, learn and improve will shape the coming decades.
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Canberra leaps into AI without safety net in place
