What is the Word of the Year?

According to Collins Dictionary, “AI,” short for artificial intelligence, is the word of the year for 2023. Collins Dictionary lexicographers say that use of the term has “accelerated,” and that it has become the dominant conversation of 2023.

Alex Beecroft, Collins managing director says, “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.”

He adds, “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.”

The statement is true. The announcement for the Collins Word of the Year is made as an international summit is hosted by UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for a hundred world leaders, tech bosses and AI researchers to discuss how to maximize the benefits and minimize the risks of “AI.” Additionally, as a significant moment for music, the Beatles have utilized the technology to restore John Lennon’s vocals for their new single “Now and Then.”

The word is chosen by analyzing 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. Wordsmiths at Collins also study spoken material from radio, TV and everyday conversations.

Some other contenders for the 2023 Word of the Year include deinfluencing, nepo baby, ultraprocessed, canon event, and greedflation.