This issue covers all major AI Events of 2023 from January to December. It was the biggest year for AI.

Firstly, a very Happy New Year to you. Wishing you a Prosperous and Healthy 2024.

2023 in AI was a chaotic year, especially March and April. But I have been maintaining a diary of everything that went on in AI over 2023 and I’m putting it all together in this post for you.

If you’re wondering how i kept track, well i used Notion for the most part, but this year i’m using chartmylife for goal tracking, i honestly feel it’s underrated - the tool is free and I found it on a tool directory a few days back, the reason i’m switching is because I can use advanced AI Features like GPT-4 & voice recognition to track and summarise daily progress. It apparently also has an AI Coach to help me keep up to date with the progress and also visualise it. Which is way easier than copying + pasting.

Let’s walk you through everything that went down in 2023.

January 2023 (Where it all started)

• Microsoft invested $10 billion in OpenAI (Parent of ChatGPT)

• Elevenlabs raises $2M launching their Speech capabilities.

• Instruct pix-2-pix (released as open source model to enhance images) - this was the first time we ever did image editing in AI.

February 2023

• Google responded to ChatGPT's success by launching Bard, its AI chatbot.

• Microsoft launched Bing Chat just a day after Bard release. It was almost like a party.

• ControlNet was released, allowing us to generate pose consistent images.

• OpenAI's ChatGPT passed the United States Medical Licensing Exam, showcasing the advanced understanding and application capabilities of AI in the medical field.

• Meta (formerly Facebook) introduced its own AI development, LLaMA, while AWS collaborated with Hugging Face, underlining the growing collaboration and competition in the AI industry.

• Researchers from Oxford showcased RealFusion, capable of constructing 360° models from single images.

• Google Research’s MusicLM and Baidu’s ERNIE-Music ventured into the realm of AI-generated music.

March 2023 (Biggest Month of 2023)

• Midjourney v5 was released - allowing us to generate mindblowing images. AI-generated images, such as the viral image of Pope Francis in a white puffer jacket, began to gain attention for their realism.

• GPT-4 was announced, a significant upgrade to the ChatGPT model, was released by OpenAI. It featured improvements in creativity, visual input, and longer context handling.

• Gen-1 Announced and a few Text to Video Open source models were released.

• Adobe Introduces Firefly; Canva, introduced tools backed by AI technology, indicating growth in generative AI applications.

• OpenAI launched APIs for ChatGPT, Whisper, and GPT-4, along with ChatGPT plugins. This expansion of OpenAI's product line signified the growing accessibility and integration of AI tools in various applications.

• This period also saw increased awareness and discussion regarding the ethical implications and potential risks associated with AI's rapid development.

April 2023

• Stanford researchers created an AI-powered village in a Sims-inspired Sandbox, with AI avatars developing their own identities.

• AI-generated song featuring Drake and The Weeknd went viral.

• SAM (Segment Anything Model) Introduced by Meta

• Wonder Dynamics first look announced (Ground breaking for VFX).

• AutoGPT first version went out and it went viral.

• Innovations included NVIDIA’s NeMo Guardrails Tool for AI chatbots and DataBricks’ Dolly 2.0 for data analytics.

• AI-equipped eyeglasses capable of deciphering silent speech were introduced.

• Adobe's AI tool, Firefly, expanded its capabilities to include video editing, demonstrating the growing versatility of AI in creative software.

• Sberbank, a major Russian bank, released GigaChat, contributing to the growing landscape of AI chatbots.

• Bill Gates, a prominent figure in technology, envisioned the role of AI in transforming the educational sector.

• There was a notable event involving the integration of AI with robots developed by Boston Dynamics. This integration likely enhanced the capabilities and functionalities of these robots.

May 2023

• “Godfather of AI” Geoffrey Hinton left Google; Google integrates AI in Sheets, Docs and across workspace (funny enough Google mentioned AI 140 times in their AI Event)

• OpenAI Announced Text-to-3D Model Shap-E.

• Adobe Introduces Generative AI in Photoshop.

• Advancements in robotics: Sanctuary AI's Phoenix Robot became commercially available, and Tesla’s Optimus Bot showed progress.

• Elon Musk's Neuralink got FDA approval for human trials.

• OpenAI launched the ChatGPT mobile app.

• Midjourney 5.1 and Stability AI's StableStudio notably advanced AI image creation.

• Google launched the Vertex AI platform, and Microsoft released Azure AI.

• Ethical concerns rose as ChatGPT was involved in false claims of authorship in academic papers.

• Meta (formerly Facebook) released DINOv2, contributing to the advancements in AI technologies.

June 2023

• Apple unveiled its AI-powered Vision Pro augmented reality headset.

• GEN-2 is announced by RunwayML

• OpenAI announced plans for its first non-U.S. office in London and an AI App Store.

• The EU’s AI Act entered the final phase of the legislative process.

• AI-driven military capabilities were showcased by Palantir.

• In the realm of AI governance, the European Union’s AI Act entered the final phase of the legislative process. This act is crucial for setting the regulatory framework and standards for AI development and deployment within the EU.

• McKinsey, a global consulting powerhouse, predicted that generative AI has the potential to add up to $4.4 trillion in value to the global economy. This forecast highlights the significant economic potential of AI technologies.

• Adobe completed the integration of its AI tool Firefly into Photoshop, further enhancing the software's capabilities with AI-driven features.

July 2023

• Stable Diffusion XL 1.0 Released.

• OpenAI announces code interpreter for ChatGPT.

• Claude-2 is announced.

• “Custom Instructions” announced at ChatGPT for Paid users.

• POE incorporated advanced AI models like Google Palm2, Claude2-100K, and GPT4-32K.

• Meta-AI introduced Llama2, a Large Language Model with 70 billion parameters.

• Google DeepMind announced work on a new version of Gemini, a Multimodal Large Language Model.

• Clipdrop introduced Stable Doodle, a Sketch-to-Image tool.

August 2023

• OpenAI expanded ChatGPT's 'Custom Instructions' feature to free users.

• Midjourney introduced the ‘Vary Region’ feature, advancing image editing.

• AtomAI introduced deep learning to microscopy data analysis software.

• Kneron launched the KL730 NPU chip, enhancing edge AI capabilities.

• Google launched AI Genesis for AI-enhanced journalism.

• YouTube explored AI-generated video summaries.

• A U.S. court ruling raised questions about copyright for AI-generated art.

September 2023

• OpenAI introduced real-time web browsing, vision capabilities to ChatGPT. It can also now hear, see and speak.

• Stability AI unveiled a text-to-audio generation innovation.

• YouTube launched YouTube Create, an AI-enabled editing app.

• Coca-Cola introduced a mystery flavor created by AI.

• Twitter, rebranded as X, confirmed its use of public data to train AI models. This move underscored the importance of data transparency and ethical considerations in AI training and development.

October 2023

• DALL-E 3 announced.

• Significant developments in AI editing technology were made by ElevenLabs.

• Dell, Intel, and Cambridge worked together on the Dawn Phase 1 supercomputer.

• Amazon and Canva introduced AI-powered image generation capabilities.

• The month also saw a rise in platforms offering foundational models and proprietary chatbots, with companies like Cohere AI, Mistral AI, and Perplexity making significant strides in the field.

November 2023

• Elon Musk's xAI released an AI chatbot named “Grok.”

• OpenAI unveiled the Assistants API.

• Midjourney inpainting announced

• Samsung introduced Gauss, a versatile AI model.

• OpenAI experienced leadership changes.

• Founded in April 2023, Mistral AI, focusing on online chatbot technology, raised $385 million in November 2023. This investment was a major milestone for the company, highlighting the rapid growth and valuation of AI startups.

• Pika announced, cutting edge Video Generation + Editing.

December 2023

• Google's Gemini model announced and reportedly outperformed GPT-4.

• AMD challenged NVIDIA in the field of AI hardware manufacturing.

• Apple released the MLX framework.

• The AI Alliance for Responsible Innovation was formed, focusing on ethical AI development.

• The foundational models underlying commercially available AI platforms became more multimodal, allowing seamless operation between text, visual prompts, and video. This advancement boosted voice tech and AI capabilities.

Phew. All I have left to say is welcome to 2024.

This is an exciting year. I will share my predictions in AI over next week’s issue.

If you think this newsletter missed a major update, comment to make it count!

Until then.