February 2023

February 2023 is the month the major tech platforms enter open AI competition, with Google launching Bard directly in response to ChatGPT's momentum and Microsoft confirming the new Bing runs on GPT-4 — a period described as 'AI vertigo' as search itself transforms. Prompt injection attacks land against Bing Chat almost immediately after launch, and Microsoft quickly limits conversation length to curb erratic behavior, while the 'AI Mirror Test' concept crystallizes the concern that smart people are projecting sentience onto chatbots. The copyright front shifts into legal territory with Getty Images suing Stability AI over 12 million scraped images. The privacy and data security dimensions multiply — ChatGPT's environmental footprint in search applications is quantified, enterprises warn employees about data leakage through ChatGPT, and Schneier's blog coins the phrase 'ChatGPT Is Ingesting Corporate Secrets,' while Wolfram publishes a foundational explainer of what GPT is actually doing and why it works.