Mick Clifford's A to Z of 2023: Our review of what became a very tumultuous year

Mick Clifford looks back upon key moments over the past 12 months

Sinéad O'Connor watches on as Shane MacGowan sings at the RDS in Dublin in 2007. Ireland lost two of its finest performers in 2023.

A – AI. Collins dictionary word of the year. A sign of the times that the word of the year in a renowned dictionary isn’t a word at all but an acronym. This was the year that Artificial Intelligence hit home with a bang. Chatbots such as ChatGPT came to the fore right across society from education to the arts, with the bot assisting in everything from writing essays to making music. The power of AI is awesome and has been met with two parts terror and one part excitement. This year the world began to attempt to come to terms with what it will mean for the future, for medical science, for jobs, for creativity, for war, and for the prospect of AI taking up the role of body snatchers in a filmscript devised by ChatGPT. As if we didn’t have enough to be scared stiff about in a world gone mad. Batten down the hatches.

B – Biden’s visit. He came, he saw, he performed a laying on of the hands. US President Joe Biden deplaned in Belfast on April 11 and spent an impatient day doing his bit for the peace process. And then it was onward to the home beloved of Irish America, the oul sod. He had a day in Co Louth reminiscing on the Bidens who went before him and then our president hosted the president and introduced him to the Aras dog and a few poems.