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The rise of AI products like ChatGPT managed to gather some attention from the Irish public, but film releases, celebrities and people involved in scandals topped the search charts too.
Google has shared its Year In Search results for 2023, giving us a deeper look at what Irish people have been diving into throughout this year.
It has been an interesting year for both Ireland and the wider world, with exciting films and products managing to take a lot of our attention.
For people’s ‘What is’ queries, ChatGPT and AI were both listed in the top 10, as the popular chatbot gathered a lot of attention. The fifth most searched topic in this section was ‘What is Threads’. The potential challenger to X – formerly known as Twitter – turned a lot of heads, even if it didn’t turn them all for long.
Big film releases managed to gain a lot of attention, with Oppenheimer and Barbie appearing in the first and second spot in the movies section. This was followed by Banshees of Inisherin, a film set in the west coast of Ireland which gained worldwide acclaim.
Celebrities involved in various allegations took the top positions in terms of searched names, with Russell Brand, Huw Edwards and Philip Schofield being the top three.
Ryan Tubridy was fourth, as the former presenter of The Late Late Show was connected to the RTÉ’s payment scandal this year. Tubridy managed to beat Joe Biden on the list, despite the US president’s visit to Ireland earlier this year. Meanwhile, the new presenter of The Late Late Show, Patrick Kielty, came in seventh place.
The loss of many Irish music legends saw names such as Sinéad O’Connor, Shane MacGowan and Christy Dignam featured on the ‘Losses’ list. Ireland also searched the names of other notable losses from around the world such as Matthew Perry, Tina Turner and Lisa Marie Presley.
With an uncertain economy, its probably no surprise that the most searched question in Ireland this year was “how to claim rent tax credit”. Other questions that were high on the list may be more surprising, such as “how to use chopsticks” and “how to solve a Rubik’s cube”.
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