2023 in computing

2023 in computing
Year	2023

2023 in computing was a year defined by the explosive proliferation and rapid commercialization of generative artificial intelligence, fundamentally reshaping the technology landscape. This surge was accompanied by intense competition in the semiconductor sector, significant cybersecurity challenges from state-sponsored actors, and steady progress in emerging fields like quantum computing. Major industry developments included landmark legal rulings, high-profile corporate leadership changes, and the continued evolution of key software platforms.

Hardware and semiconductors

The year saw fierce competition in advanced chip manufacturing, with TSMC commencing high-volume production of its 3 nm process and Samsung announcing its rival 2 nm process node. Intel launched its Meteor Lake microarchitecture, marking a major shift to a chiplet-based design for client processors. In the GPU market, NVIDIA solidified its dominance in AI accelerators with the H100 and announced its next-generation Blackwell architecture, while AMD released its Instinct MI300 series to compete in the data center. Apple introduced the M3 chip family, powering new MacBook Pro and iMac models, and Qualcomm unveiled the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for flagship mobile devices. The global semiconductor industry also grappled with the continued effects of export controls led by the U.S. Commerce Department targeting SMIC and Huawei.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning

Generative AI moved decisively into the mainstream, largely driven by the public success of OpenAI's ChatGPT and the release of its multimodal GPT-4 model. This triggered a wave of product integrations and launches, including Google's Bard (later rebranded to Gemini), Microsoft's Copilot across its Office suite and Windows 11, and Meta's release of the open-weight Llama 2 model. The field of AI art was revolutionized by tools like Midjourney and Stable Diffusion, while the rise of deepfake technology raised significant ethical concerns. Research advanced in multimodal learning and AI alignment, even as industry leaders like Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio voiced warnings about existential risks from advanced artificial general intelligence.

Cybersecurity and privacy

Cybersecurity incidents were increasingly attributed to sophisticated state-linked groups, with activities from APT29 (associated with Russian intelligence) and Volt Typhoon (linked to the People's Republic of China) targeting critical infrastructure. A major zero-day vulnerability in MOVEit, a file transfer tool from Progress Software, led to a global ransomware spree affecting organizations like the BBC and British Airways. The SEC implemented new rules requiring public companies to disclose material cybersecurity incidents. Privacy regulations expanded with the enactment of comprehensive data protection laws in several U.S. states, including CPRA, while the European Union saw continued enforcement of the GDPR and progressed on the Artificial Intelligence Act.

Software and operating systems

Major platform updates included the release of Microsoft Windows 11 version 23H2, which integrated the new AI Copilot. Apple launched macOS Sonoma, iOS 17, and watchOS 10. In the open-source world, the Linux kernel reached version 6.6, and significant development continued on the Rust for Linux project. The Chromium-based Microsoft Edge browser continued to gain market share against Google Chrome. The developer ecosystem was influenced by the rise of AI-assisted coding tools like GitHub Copilot, and the Apache Software Foundation oversaw updates to key projects like Apache Spark.

Quantum computing

Progress in quantum computing was marked by both hardware advances and algorithmic demonstrations. IBM unveiled its Heron processor and the IBM Quantum System Two, a modular system for scalable quantum-centric supercomputing. Google Quantum AI published research demonstrating a reduction in logical errors through increased qubit redundancy. Quantinuum and Microsoft collaborated to demonstrate the most reliable logical qubits to date. National initiatives advanced, with the United Kingdom launching its £2.5 billion National Quantum Strategy and DARPA funding the Underexplored Systems for Utility-Scale Quantum Computing (US2QC) program.

Notable events and industry developments

The technology sector experienced significant legal and corporate shifts. The U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission filed major antitrust lawsuits against Google and Meta, respectively. Sam Altman was briefly ousted from and then reinstated as CEO of OpenAI in a dramatic boardroom conflict involving major investor Microsoft. Twitter was officially rebranded to X by owner Elon Musk. In a landmark ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court decided in *Gonzalez v. Google* that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act generally protects algorithms for content recommendation. The video game industry saw the successful launches of *The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom* and *Baldur's Gate 3*, while the collapse of FTX continued to send shockwaves through the cryptocurrency and blockchain sectors.

Category:2023 in technology Category:2023 in science Category:Computing by year