The Word of the Year reflects the preoccupations of the time…
The abbreviation of artificial intelligence (AI) has been named the Collins Word of the Year for 2023.
Lexicographers at Collins Dictionary said use of the term had “accelerated” and that it had become the dominant conversation of 2023.
“We know that AI has been a big focus this year in the way that it has developed and has quickly become as ubiquitous and embedded in our lives as email, streaming or any other once futuristic, now everyday technology,” Collins managing director Alex Beecroft said.
“Use of the word as monitored through our Collins Corpus is always interesting and there was no question that this has also been the talking point of 2023,” Beecroft added.
The Collins announcement comes as UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hosts a summit for 100 world leaders, tech bosses and AI researchers to discuss how best to maximise the benefits of this technology while minimising the risks.
Elsewhere, the Beatles have used it to help retrieve John Lennon’s vocals to create their “last song”,which will be released tomorrow.
Collins said its wordsmiths analyzed the Collins Corpus, a database that contains more than 20 billion words with written material from websites, newspapers, magazines and books published around the world. It also draws on spoken material from radio, TV and everyday conversations.
Other words on Collins list include “Nepo Baby,” “Greedflation,” and “Bazball”.
The word “Permacrisis,” defined as “an extended period of instability and insecurity” was the Collins Word of the Year in 2022.
Here are the 2023 contenders for Word of the Year, according to Collins:
- Bazball: A style of test cricket in which the batting side plays in a highly aggressive manner.
- Deinfluencing: The use of social media to warn followers to avoid certain commercial products or lifestyle choices.
- Nepo Baby: A person, especially in the entertainment industry, whose career is believed to have been advanced by faving famous parents.
- Ultraprocessed: Food prepared using complex industrial methods from multiple ingredients, often including ingredients with little or no nutritional value.
- Canon Event: An event that is essential to the formation of an individual’s character or identity.
- Debanking: The act of depriving a person of banking facilities.
- Greedflation: The use of inflation as an excuse to raise prices to artificially high levels in order to increase corporate profits.
- Semaglutide: A medication used to suppress the appetite and control high blood sugar.
- ULEZ: Acronym for ultra-low emission zone – an area into which only lvehicles that emit very little pollution are allowed to enter without paying a charge.
Source: euronews