How do you sum up the year’s most important news? The obvious solution in 2023 is to employ Artificial Intelligence. In that spirit, when asked to OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard, two of the most popular generative AI tools.
Their comments demonstrate AI’s capabilities and areas where it needs to improve. ChatGPT said, “As an AI, I don’t have real-time access to current events or the internet to know the specific events of 2023,” and then presented with “a hypothetical scenario based on current trends and topics.” Its optimistic scenario included the global community agreeing to “a radical and comprehensive set of measures to reduce carbon emissions by 2030 significantly,” scientists completing final phase clinical trials of an unnamed cancer vaccine, and the United Nations mediating a deal to end decades of geopolitical tensions in an unspecified region of the world.
On the other hand, Bard was more useful and accurate, providing with an overview of news from the Russia-Ukraine war (though it was unclear when the war began), what occurred to the global economy, and data on technological breakthroughs such as AI and gene editing. It failed to cover the conflict between Hamas and Israel.
Even if AI cannot currently compete with a journalist, the technology’s arrival in 2023 promised (or threatened, depending on your point of view) a dramatic upheaval in how humans operate, boosting the stock prices of corporations that embraced that promise. Expect more breakthroughs and headlines about authorities rushing to keep up in 2024. Bullets and ballots will also define the coming year.
In October, Hamas militants invaded Israel, killing over 1,200 civilians and kidnapping approximately 240 more. The terrible surprise strike provoked a large retaliation operation, making it the single most fatal day in Israeli history. For weeks, Israel has hammered Hamas and other militant factions in Gaza, ordering the movement of over a million people within the tiny enclave and killing more than 14,000 Palestinians, including 5,000 children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
A days-long cease-fire in late November to allow Hamas to return some Israeli hostages and Israel to return some Palestinian inmates to Gaza expired, and the war appears set to continue into 2024.
Ukraine’s crisis is similarly showing no signs of abating. Russian and Ukrainian soldiers continue to combat in Ukraine’s east and south, but both sides’ progress has stalled. The key to breaking the deadlock is as much in Washington and Brussels – and the West’s appetite for sustained assistance to Ukraine – as it is in Moscow and Kyiv.
This was also the year that China’s economic woes deepened, even as Beijing and Washington worked to improve relations. In 2024, the US presidential elections will determine such attempts and the possibility of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. A second term for Donald Trump will upend everything, even the future of American democracy.
The presidential election in the United States will be the most important political event next year, both at home and internationally. However, other important news will emerge from polling stations around the world.
More than 900 million eligible voters in India will decide Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s political fate next spring. Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum may be elected as the country’s first female President, breaking with masculine tradition. In Russia, Vladimir Putin is seeking another six-year term in government, putting him on par with Joseph Stalin’s long reign over the country.
Many newsrooms are experimenting with how artificial intelligence may help package, produce, and deliver journalism. However, reporters on the ground across the world will continue to cover the news that matters without fear or favor.
