In an age of deepfakes and post-truth, as artificial intelligence rose and Elon Musk turned Twitter into X, the Merriam-Webster word of the year for 2023 is “Authentic.” Authentic cuisine. Authentic voice. Authentic self. Authenticity as artifice. Lookups for the word are routinely heavy on the dictionary company’s site but were boosted to new heights throughout the year. Talking to The Associated Press in an exclusive interview, Peter Sokolowski said that lookups for the “Authentic” word are routinely heavy on the dictionary company’s site but were boosted to new heights throughout the year. Sokolowski and his team don’t delve into why people head to dictionaries and websites in search of specific words. Rather, they chase the data on lookup spikes and world events that correlate. This time around, there was no particularly huge boost at any given time but a constancy to the increased interest in “authentic.” This was the year of artificial intelligence, but also a moment when ChatGPT-maker OpenAI suffered a leadership crisis. Taylor Swift and Prince Harry chased after authenticity in their words and deeds. At February’s World Government Summit in Dubai, Elon Musk urged the heads of companies, politicians, ministers, and other leaders to “speak authentically” on social media by running their own accounts.
