December 19, 2022 The Biggest Tech Stories of 2022: Year in Review

By Sam Ancer

With the year winding down to a close, we would like to cover the biggest tech stories that happened in 2022.

2022 has been a big year for tech, both good and bad, and so we felt it would help you to remember the most important tech news stories of 2022. 

1. Crypto Collapse

Cryptocurrencies have taken up a lot of space over the past few years. In May 2022 Terra and Luna Coins crashed, with Luna being depegged from their 1 dollar value. This, along with issues like the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the cost of living crisis led to a chain of events that has seen the crypto bubble pop. 

The owner of Terra and Lunar Kwon Do-Hyung is now on the run and is wanted for arrest by Interpol relating to the collapse of Terra. While there have been other news stories relating to crypto this year, including Ethereum's move to proof of stake over proof of work, and FTX going bankrupt and its former CEO and Founder being arrested in the Bahamas. The biggest story in the crypto space has to be the collapse of Luna and Terra Coin.

While other cryptocurrencies have bounced back somewhat since May. The collapse has shown that critics of crypto had valid points around the lack of inherent value in crypto and that it was just being traded as a speculative commodity. 

There is some good news, in that people are a lot more suspicious of new crypto projects and so any new ventures will have to demonstrate value inherently. This means crypto markets and ventures could become more resilient and look to provide better services and value to their customer base.

2. Elon Musk Buys Twitter

Richest man in the world Elon Musk bought social media site Twitter in October of this year. The purchase was not a straightforward affair. Musk initially announced his intention to buy Twitter in April of this year, after becoming the company's biggest shareholder earlier in the year.

The purchase did not go smoothly as Musk wanted to back out after signing terms, citing that Twitter had misled him about the number of bot accounts on the website. Twitter then began a court case that would force Musk to buy the company, citing the fact that he harmed their stock price during the purchase debacle.

Before the trial could commence Musk opted to purchase Twitter at the original price of $44 billion USD. Since then he has tried to implement new features like paid verification and reinstated formerly deleted accounts like former President Donald Trump.

Musk also began mass layoffs firing nearly half of Twitter’s staff as well as key security and content moderation roles that could threaten Twitter's collapse quite soon. Advertisers have also left Twitter due to concerns around content moderation and the potential for damage to their brand having advertising content existing alongside harmful posts.

3. Evolutions in AI Art

OpenAI’s Dall-E 2 made waves in the art world and began an existential argument around the role of artists in our current age.

Other amazing projects have advanced artificial intelligence in the art space, such as AIVA, an artificial intelligence based music composer.

OpenAI has also questioned the role of writers in our era, with their new dialogue-based chatbot ChatGPT.

The shake up of the artist community and the role of AI in our future of expression has drawn arguments of critics and supporters. On the one hand there is a question of reference and whether artists that provide the imagery for AI databases should be compensated. Whereas champions of AI art believe it to be a way to remove barriers for those who want to express themselves but lack the ability or means to do so adequately.

2022 has shown us the future of art and there are more exciting projects just waiting to be unveiled in the new year.

4. TikToks Continued Rise

While social media giant Meta has suffered some considerable losses, including its first ever decline in users, its major competitor TikTok has continued to grow.

With more than 755 million active users now using TikTok and its earnings reaching more than $10 billion USD in earnings this year, it has been an amazing year for the fastest growing platform on the internet.

Despite concerns from the United States government around TikToks connections with the Chinese government, the app has had a spectacular year.

5. African Tech has its Biggest Year Ever

2021 had set a number of funding records for the African tech space, it seemed nearly impossible for 2022 to replicate this success. 2022 went with a strong start though with funding across the board breaking year-on-year records.

Things seemed to slow down after the collapse of the crypto market and the inflation crisis. But African markets were able to bounce back quickly, and funding growth in Kenya and Egypt has not slowed down at all. 

At this point in time, African tech companies have raised more than $4 billion USD. Narrowly overtaking last year's records.

Conclusion

2022 has been full of fantastic and shocking news within the tech space, but with markets looking to bounce back and new exciting ventures happening across the board, 2023 looks to be an even more exciting year.

Follow us on all our channels to keep up to date with all the most important news stories.