AI impacts searches in 2023 as Merriam-Webster names its Word of the Year

With the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) infiltrating our social media pages, videos, schools and more, there's one question on a lot of people's minds − is it real?

As folks seek out the truth, as well as hear terms about celebrities, identities, voices and more, searches of "authentic" spiked in 2023, leading Merriam-Webster to name it this year's Word of the Year.

"Authentic has a number of meanings including 'not false or imitation,' a synonym of real and actual; and also 'true to one’s own personality, spirit, or character.' Although clearly a desirable quality, authentic is hard to define and subject to debate — two reasons it sends many people to the dictionary," Merriam-Webster said.

More: President Biden warns artificial intelligence could 'overtake human thinking'

Events like the actors' strike brought AI to the forefront as they sought contract protections connected to its use, and there were multiple instances where academic honesty came into the spotlight, particularly on college campuses.

The Taylor Swift effect

The dictionary also says the word is often connected to identity, both national and personal, in terms like "authentic cuisine" and "authentic self."

Merriam-Webster points out that singers and songwriters like Taylor Swift, Lainey Wilson and Sam Smith made headlines in 2023 with statements about seeking their “authentic voice” and “authentic self.”

The dictionary says brands, social media influencers and celebs aspire to be authentic.

"Elon Musk made headlines when he said that people should be more 'authentic' on social media. Apps and platforms like BeReal make recording 'authentic' experiences their main purpose," Merriam-Webster said. "No matter how much artifice and calculation goes into the production of these videos, as Rebecca Jennings of Vox puts it, 'wherever people are supposedly being "authentic" on the internet, the money will follow.'"

2023's top words

Merriam-Webster says other words that stood out in 2023 included:

RIZZ

An example of internet-driven slang that shot to the top of lookups when it was added to the dictionary in September. As a noun, rizz means “romantic appeal or charm” (as in “a bro who has rizz”); as a verb (typically used with up, as in “rizz up that cutie”) it means “to charm or seduce.” Merriam-Webster says it’s frequently considered a play on charisma, but YouTuber Kai Cenat, who is widely credited with coining the word, says it's not. However, no other lexical inspiration has been identified.

DEEPFAKE

Means “an image or recording that has been convincingly altered and manipulated to misrepresent someone as doing or saying something that was not actually done or said.”

"In late April and early May, we saw a surge of interest in deepfake when lawyers for Elon Musk argued that he shouldn’t have to give legal testimony about public statements he made, since, as a famous person, some of his statements might be deepfakes," the dictionary said. The argument was rejected.

Other spikes included in May when a fan-made ad for Tesla featured a likeness of Ryan Reynolds, and June, when online ads for Ron DeSantis used apparently fake images of Donald Trump, Merriam-Webster said.

CORONATION

A spike occurred in May when −surprise − an official celebration was held for new British monarch King Charles III. "Coronation refers to the literal act of placing a crown on a monarch’s head, a synonym of crowning. It is also more figuratively used to refer to the assumption of a prominent position or office," Merriam-Webster said.

DYSTOPIAN

The dictionary says a number of events in 2023 drove interest in the term, including an AI video produced by the Republican National Committee in April portraying what was described as the “dystopian future” the RNC asserts will result from the re-election of Joe Biden. Also in April, the 54th Earth Day celebration followed weeks of record-high temperatures, leading to warnings from activists that action must be taken to avoid a “dystopian future.” In June a "dystopian landscape" was described by many when smoke from Canadian wildfires blanketed the eastern U.S.

EGOT

A rare honor that goes to entertainers who win the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards. EGOT was first used in 1984 and was added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary in 2019. Lookups for EGOT spiked in February when Viola Davis won a Grammy for her reading of the audiobook version of her memoir, completing the honor.

X

Elon Musk’s rebranding of Twitter led many to learn more about the letter. "It doesn’t just represent a letter and its sound, but also has various meanings and functions: for example, it stands for 'an unknown quantity,' it’s a symbol for the act of multiplication, and it is used as a substitute for 'by' in measurements, as in 'The room was 10’x15',' the dictionary said.

IMPLODE

Titan, a submersible attempting to visit the wreck of the Titanic, disappeared in June. It was later discovered that the vessel had imploded. While exploding is common, imploding − something that bursts inward or undergoes violent compression −is more rare.

DOPPELGANGER

Doppelgänger can refer to a living person that closely resembles another living person or it can refer to the opposite side of one’s personality, Merriam-Webster said, explaining that in German folklore a Doppelgänger is a ghostly counterpart of a living person. The word is formed from two words that together mean “double goer.” The word spiked when there were media reports of attempted murders of people's lookalikes, as well as the tale of two minor baseball players who shared the same name and features, but were found via DNA testing not to be related.

COVENANT

"A formal, solemn, and binding agreement” or “a written agreement or promise” came into search play after a shooting at Covenant School in Nashville on March 27. Guy Ritchie’s movie "The Covenant" came out in April, and Abraham Verghese's novel "The Covenant of Water" was released in May. In early November, it was revealed that the new Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, uses an app called Covenant Eyes.

INDICT

"To charge with a crime by the finding or presentment of a jury (such as a grand jury) in due form of law," the term was often in the news this year, leading to search spikes. "Former President Donald Trump was indicted in four separate cases now moving through the legal system, and indict spiked by 9,440% on March 30, when a New York City grand jury charged the former president in the hush-money case," the dictionary said.

ELEMENTAL

The title of a new Pixar film released in June led to a search spike of the term. According to Merriam-Webster, this title employs the original and oldest meaning of element: “any of the four substances air, water, fire, and earth formerly believed to compose the physical universe.”

KIBBUTZ: A communal farm or settlement in Israel, searches for the term spiked after Hamas launched attacks on Israel on Oct. 7 where civilians living in kibbutzim were among the targets. Other terms relating to the Hamas attack and Israel's military response included "blood libel" and "intifada."

DEADNAME: The term, the name someone was given at birth and no longer uses upon transitioning, spiked in search in March when so-called "parental rights" bills were being considered in several states.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Merriam-Webster names its 2023 Word of the Year, impacted by AI