And so it begins. The year-end round-up of favorite words, photos, colors, movies, etc. All those best-of-the-year things. And it’s not even December.
We begin with a word of the year from a dictionary company. The Associated Press announced this morning that Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year is authentic. Not a new word, not particularly interesting or glamorous. But with the advent and widespread use of artificial intelligence (AI) this year, it has become a major concern. Is that story, picture, or voice authentic, or was it created or manipulated with AI? Certainly legitimate concerns in my book. Especially with political campaigns looming.
I understand the government is working on some system of watermarking or otherwise identifying anything created with AI. But it seems to me that would be entirely dependent on an individual’s willingness to cooperate and include such watermark. And currently our elected officials seem unable to do much of anything, much less tackle a serious technological problem that is likely beyond their ability to understand. (Who can forget “the internet is a series of tubes”?) The ideal, I think, would be that AI somehow watermark or otherwise identify itself automatically. Make it an inherent part of the technology that cannot be altered or eliminated. But of course it’s already a year too late to do that. (“AI, make yourself undetectable.”)
So, to continue, authentic is Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year. Runners up included X, EGOT, elemental, rizz, kibbutz, implode, deadname, doppleganger, coronation, deepfake, dystopian, and covenant.
The choice(s) are based on how many times a word is looked up by the public. Previously unfamiliar to yours truly were rizz, apparently a shortened version of charisma, and deadname, defined by Merriam-Webster as “the name that a transgender person was given at birth and no longer uses upon transitioning.”
That’s it for now, but stay tuned. Or not. Things-of-the-year will soon be raining down upon us.
Thanks ❤️
YW. Just tryin’ to keep up with the youngsters. Rizz? Deadname? Noted.
And it is declared unfair to blame the internet for problems !
Far as I can see, the internet is responsible for everything.
(Did I hear someone mutter “grumpy old curmudgeon” ..?)
I certainly attribute a great deal of blame to social media on the internet — blame for much of the extreme tribalism, dangerous fads, misinformation, and crime/violence. But on the positive side, the internet has proven invaluable in providing rapid communication, the spread of knowledge (the good, not the bad), etc.
and blogging. You forgot blogging. 😀
Hmmm. And does blogging deserve blame or credit? You need to be specific!
Colorado, I think you have restricted Comments to three per person, coz I am not offered the opportunity to reply directly to your last – hence this ‘general’ comment.
Blogging is GOOD. Of course it is ! Blogging found you for me – or was it me for you ?
Whose nose ? – or cares ? 😀
Heh, I just replied to all this via email. Shoulda looked here first.
Which ain’t yet arrived .. 🙁
Probably because it went back to the WordPress comment mechanism or something, since it was generated here instead of from Melbourne. I’m sorry. Was wrestling with computer problem at the time and didn’t read carefully.
To reply to this comment, go back up to the the last “Reply” prompt and write there. Comment will show in the proper place.
So hard to know what is or isn’t authentic these days. I tend not to believe anything on social media until I have thoroughly checked it out. Even then there is bias and obfuscation. By the way, I had to look up a lot of those runner-up words!
You are very wise. Somewhere recently I noted “Trust but verify.” Well, scratch that. Don’t trust; just verify, verify, verify.
And yes, I had to look up some of them too.
You are right—more to come! 😀