They also built supercomputers designed to handle the growing influx of data needed for evermore complex AI applications. Emerging-tech startups kept feeding the innovation pipeline, though many were running on capital raised before mounting uncertainties in the second half of the year saw venture investors pulling back from funding deals. Years of R&D into generative AI capabilities came to fruition this year, highlighted by the release of ChatGPT, a free AI-powered chatbot with a humanlike ability to produce original, coherent text from a handful of prompts. ChatGPT, which made its public debut as a prototype in late November, and caught on quickly with millions of internet users, was developed by OpenAI--a Microsoft Corp. -backed research lab that roughly two months earlier unveiled its text-to-image generator Dall-E2. The Morning Download delivers daily insights and news on business technology from the CIO Journal team.