Artificial intelligence has earned the top spot in Yahoo Finance's Top Stories of the Year for 2023 as mass adoption of AI large-language models took almost all industries by storm this year.
Yahoo Finance Tech Editor Dan Howley looks back on how influential AI has been in 2023, its rate of adoption by major tech players, gains seen by AI-adjacent tech manufacturers, and OpenAI's shaky leadership in late November.
For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Yahoo Finance Live.
This post was written by Luke Carberry Mogan.
Video Transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING] - We have been counting down the top 10 stories of 2023 here at Yahoo Finance.
And we are finally at the top spot.
Coming in at number 1-- can we do the drum roll again-- it can only be AI, the tech boom.
OpenAI, the research and development team behind viral bots could see a valuation of up to $29 billion.
SAM ALTMAN: I believe that there will be far greater jobs on the other side of this.
DANIEL MORGAN: Well, the best thing you can do as a CEO to jump-start your stock is talk about AI.
SUNDAR PICHAI: We are also deeply investing in AI responsibility.
GWYNETH PALTROW: AI is going to change everything.
CHUCK SCHUMER: Is government needed to play a role in regulating AI?
ELON MUSK: The consequences of AI going wrong are severe.
- I mean, when Gwyneth Paltrow says it's going to be changing everything, then that's it.
It's been a year.
What a year it's been.
To break down how the biggest players in tech have jostled to be in first place in the AI race, here's Yahoo Finance's Dan Howley.
DAN HOWLEY: To say that 2023 was the year of AI would be the understatement of, well, the year.
From NVIDIA and Google to Microsoft and OpenAI, Silicon Valley couldn't get enough.
In just Q2, the term AI was mentioned nearly four times per earnings call.
That's a lot of AI and a lot of investment.
Heck, even Wendy's got in on the action, adding a generative AI assistant to its drive-thru.
Here are some of the biggest highlights from the biggest theme of 2023-- the generative AI explosion.
It might have been the most important story of 2023.
But it started in November 2022 with the release of ChatGPT by OpenAI.
The chat bot quickly became the fastest growing app in history to that point, reaching 100 million monthly users in just two months.
SAM ALTMAN: OpenAI is the most advanced and the most widely used AI platform in the world now.
DAN HOWLEY: On the heels of the bot success, Microsoft announced it was investing $10 billion in OpenAI.
In February, Google debuted its rival chat bot Bard, but the unveil was light on details.
Days later, Microsoft took the wraps off of its OpenAI-powered Bing bot.
But Google kept pouring on the news in May, debuting its search generative experience.
Microsoft then fired back revealing it was bringing its AI-powered Windows copilot to Windows 11.
Oh, and in May, NVIDIA's market capitalization briefly topped $1 trillion for the first time, cementing its status as the AI chip leader.
In September, Amazon, keen on getting deeper into the action, announced it was investing $4 billion in OpenAI competitor, Anthropic.
Meta, meanwhile, revealed an AI assistant for its social platforms as well as AI personalities for celebrities like Tom Brady and Kendall Jenner.
TOM BRADY: Seriously?
How could you not know that?
DAN HOWLEY: In November, all hell broke loose at OpenAI when the board fired Sam Altman seemingly out of nowhere.
It caused investor uproar.
CEOs came and went.
Microsoft offered him a job.
Hundreds of OpenAI employees threatened to resign.
And finally, OpenAI brought him back but this time with new board members, including a non-voting observer role for Microsoft.
A big year for big tech and no doubt one that will change how we all invest, work, and play forever.
And it feels like it's all just getting started.