'AI' named Collins Word of the Year for 2023

The term "AI" has been named Collins Word of the Year 2023 beating the likes of “nepo-baby”, “deinfluencing” and “ultra-processed”. 

The publisher included the abbreviation for Artificial Intelligence as it is so “ubiquitous and enmeshed in our daily lives” with usage of the term quadrupling over the last year. 

Defined as “the modelling of human mental functions by computer programs”, AI has seen "rapid development and has been much talked about in 2023”, Collins said. 

The lexicographers at Collins Dictionary monitor the 20-billion-word Collins Corpus which draws from a range of media sources, including social media, to create the annual list of new and notable words that reflect the evolving nature of language.

The company chose “AI” as Word of the Year as it “has accelerated at such a fast pace and become the dominant conversation of 2023”. 

When considering other top contenders, the cost-of-living crisis has been a significant influence according to Collins. “Greedflation”, defined as “the use of inflation as an excuse to raise prices to artificially high levels in order to increase corporate profits”, was deemed “notable” by the dictionary with usage increasing tenfold. 

“Debanking”, the act of depriving a person of banking facilities, has also increased in usage as has an emerging social media trend, “deinfluencing”, described as “the use of social media to warn followers to avoid certain commercial products, lifestyle choices”. Collins said: “It may be no coincidence that this growing trend is happening at a time when people are mindful of spending habits.” 

Another term which has come through social media this year is “nepo baby”, defined as “a person, especially in the entertainment industry, whose career is believed to have been advanced by having a famous parent”.  

Health and wellness in food has also been much discussed this year with more references to “ultra-processed” food along with “semaglutide”, a medication used to suppress the appetite and control high blood sugar, which more than tripled in usage this year. 

Other terms included “ULEZ” or ultra-low emission zone, and “canon event”, “an event that is essential to the formation of an individual’s character or identity”, which became popular after featuring heavility in the latest Spider-Man film. Meanwhile "Bazball”, is an aggressive style of cricket named after former New Zealand cricketer and coach Brendon McCullum. 

Alex Beecroft, m.d. at Collins, said: “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. 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 cost-of-living crisis is also inescapable, with words such as greedflation rising sharply, shining a spotlight on corporates. Other words in the list have also provoked interesting conversations, particularly around people’s health, with ultra-processed coming into the attention of the media and semaglutide also making headlines.” 

AI has been increasingly discussed in the books industry over the last year and on Tuesday (31st October) four major trade bodies urged the government for “tangible solutions” to protect “human creativity” behind the technology and “acknowledgement of and recompense for the copyright infringement that has already happened”.