2023 (MMXXIII) is the current year, and is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2023rd year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 23rd year of the 3rd millennium and the 21st century, and the 4th year of the 2020s decade.
The year so far has seen the continued waning of the COVID-19 pandemic (which the WHO ceased calling a global health emergency on May 5), the continuation of Russian invasion of Ukraine which began in 2022, and the outbreak of an armed conflict in Sudan beginning in April. The year also had multiple catastrophic natural disasters, including the fifth-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century striking Turkey and Syria, leaving nearly 60,000 people dead, as well as Cyclone Freddy, the longest-lasting recorded tropical cyclone in history, leading to over 1,400 deaths.
2023 additionally witnessed a banking crisis resulting in the collapse of numerous American regional banks as well as the buyout of Credit Suisse by UBS in Switzerland. Among American banks, the two largest banks which collapsed were Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic Bank, the third and second largest banking collapses in US history respectively.
In the realm of technology, 2023 has seen the continued rise of generative AI models, with applications across various industries reaching new heights. These models, leveraging advancements in machine learning and natural language processing, have become capable of creating realistic and coherent text, images, and music. An AI arms race between private companies has continued since the late 2010s, with Microsoft-backed OpenAI and Google-owner Alphabet today most dominant among firms.[1]