However, that became more of an issue earlier this year when Musk, as the new boss of Twitter, now X, got rid of the trademark blue check sign of authenticity – now only available at a price. The rise of artificial intelligence has blurred the lines between what is real and what is not, leaving celebrities, brands and social media influencers – among others – keen to prove their authenticity. One of the most notable news stories of the year about deepfake images was of those appearing to show former President Donald Trump being detained by police in a dramatic fashion back in March. In 2022, Merriam-Webster chose “gaslighting” as its word of the year, saying it had become a ubiquitous term in the “age of misinformation.”Other words that led much traffic to the online dictionary in 2023 included coronation, dystopian, indict and doppelgänger. Meanwhile “rizz” went straight to the “top of lookups” in September, when the example of internet-driven slang was added to the dictionary.

Source: CNN November 27, 2023 13:09 UTC