Who will succeed Volodymyr Zelensky? Wednesday, the magazine Time reveals its personality of the year 2023. Over the years, the magazine has accustomed us to very American-centric choices (the president-elect is on the front page every four years…), while providing surprise effects with personalities opposed to the United States, like Stalin in 1942 or Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979.
The exercise consists both of electing a personality who has made the news, of course, and of selling the magazine: that’s why Time sometimes made less obvious choices, with groups of people (“The Americans” in 1975 or “The Young People” in 1966”…), objects (“The Computer” in 1982) or even concepts (“You” in 2006 to evoke Internet users who produce content) established as “personalities”.
War, ok, but which one?
These erratic choices make forecasts very risky. However, the chaotic international situation, with many ongoing conflicts, could give rise to a choice that carries a political message. Some imagine that the war in Ukraine could be in the spotlight without electing either Putin, already on the front page in 2007, or Zelensky, for example by choosing the town of Bakhmut.
Others think that the attention will be focused on Iran – a roundabout way of evoking the ongoing conflict in Israel – for example by electing “Iranian women”. After all, in 2017, the headlines of Time Magazine highlighted “those who break the silence” to salute the #MeToo movement and in 2011 “The Protesters” to evoke, pell-mell, the Arab Spring, the Spanish Indignés, Occupy Wall Street and many others …
HAS 20 minutes, so we decided to elect our own personality of the year. But before revealing our winner, let’s take a look at the main favorites.
The three likely winners
- Artificial Intelligence
It’s obvious. Thirty-one years after choosing “The Computer”, and seventeen years after honoring Web 2.0, Time Magazine would be a good idea to mark the transition to a new era: that of Ultron. Well, AI in short. Of course, the concept does not date from 2023 and its very definition is quite vague. However, 2023 marks the arrival of new services which have highlighted the possible uses of AI. Governments around the world are considering legislating on the subject… A new speculative bubble is accompanying its rise… Its apostles and its detractors clash daily… In short, AI is the star of the year. So much so that the general public can now form an opinion “for or against AI”. A Manichaeism that made the headlines of Time Magazine during the Cold War, when Ronald Reagan, Deng Xiaoping and Mikhail Gorbachev clashed.
Never II without III. Elizabeth II was the 1952 “Person of the Year” upon her accession to the throne. It would be quite natural for Charles III to succeed him there too, seventy-one years later. Even though Charles’ coronation is undoubtedly the greatest glow down in the history of the British monarchy, we do not have the opportunity every year to have a king on the front page of Time Magazine. In addition, the sovereign often speaks on ecology, a major subject of 2023. Apart from that, he had the immense merit of surviving his first year of reign (which is no small thing), and it It’s true that he has a pretty crown.
- Climate change
Thirty-five years after devoting “The Earth in Danger” to its front page, Time Magazine has the perfect opportunity to put the person who threatens her in the spotlight. The hottest year in recent history, 2023 was a succession of natural disasters, a consequence of climate change. Several hundred thousand deaths and billions of dollars in damage, this is the kind of toll that deserves an election for the title of “personality of the year”. The message would be all the stronger as COP28 is currently being held in Dubai.
The three favorites who will not win
It’s very simple, not a single day goes by without 20 minutes doesn’t publish an article about her. Undisputed box office star, she can afford a world tour sold out several months before its launch and to re-record its old records to break new sales records. Former darling of white America, Taylor Swift, while remaining very discreet about her opinions, has earned the image of a powerful and determined woman. His song lyrics are now studied as Socratic prose and his celebrity quarrels take on the appearance of edifying mythological dramas. Yet, Time Magazine has never chosen an artist for its front page. And choosing Taylor Swift after having snubbed Beyoncé would undoubtedly be a serious mistake.
It’s THE trend for 2023. Leave Paris to go teleworking in the sun. Between a priority objective finally achieved and a new employee of the year title, Lionel Messi moved to Florida. A journey which symbolizes the fate of many workers in 2023. But the footballer is not only a champion of post-Covid capitalism, he also won the Football World Cup and an eighth Golden Ball. Problem, never has an athlete been chosen as personality of the year Time Magazine, even those who had strong commitments or were the symbol of social movements. Needless to say, it’s going to be complicated for Messi…
The doll, who was entitled to her live action film event in 2023, was one of the stars of the year. She embodies, with her body (made of non-recycled plastic), defending a kind of neo-feminism or pop feminism, a synthesis of the years of empowerment of #MeToo and the relativist backlash that followed. There are countless articles asking whether Barbie is a feminist without a satisfactory answer having been formulated. Perhaps that’s the problem, the message that a Barbie triumph would carry would not be very clear (except in Mattel’s 2023 financial statement).
And the winner is… ChatGPT
ChatGPT is Personality of the Year 20 minutes ! We’ll see if Time Magazine We get the idea… But then, why ChatGPT? We could have asked the conversational robot to give us an argument like a lazy journalist, but we’re going to play it the old-fashioned way, with a human behind the keyboard.
While ChatGPT has occupied conversations over the past twelve months (including in numerous articles from 20 minutes), OpenAI’s conversational robot improved its performance, to the point of raising fears of a sort of civilizational crash with professions disappearing and humanity soon enslaved to AI… However, ChatGPT is not really an “intelligence”, as Christophe Cerisara, CNRS researcher, explained to us: “There is no exact definition of artificial general intelligence (AGI) because there are different interpretations. It is an artificial intelligence which would have the same cognitive faculties as humans. She would be able to learn on her own and improve over time. This is science fiction, let’s be clear. ChatGPT does not possess all human cognitive abilities. »
It is probably because ChatGPT arouses fears and fantasies beyond its real capabilities that the application deserves the title of “personality of the year”. ChatGPT is ultimately as disappointing and overhyped as any human.
The three darlings of 20 Minutes
With the character played by Matthew Perry, who recently died, it is “the spirit Friends » that we could celebrate. Sure, the sitcom has aged (very poorly by some standards) but it also embodies nostalgia for a time when a group of friends allowed billions of viewers to laugh together.
There has not been a French “person of the year” since Charles de Gaulle in 1958. What a disgrace… The director triumphs in the United States with her film Anatomy of a fallPalme d’Or (while waiting for the Oscar?) and seems to have very well captured the (explosive) air of the times of 2023.
What if the personality of the year didn’t live on our planet. No, no, we are not talking about Thomas Pesquet (please…) but about the red planet. Once synonymous with being inaccessible elsewhere, the seat of the cosmic fears of the 1950s and the technological dreams of the last 20 years, Mars is on the verge, thanks to the discoveries of the Curiosity rover, of revealing the secrets of the origin of life. Nothing less. Who can say the same on Earth?