Losers

1. X (formerly Twitter): A masterclass in self-destruction

Elon Musk spent 2024 doubling down on the chaos that turned X into a punchline. Advertisers fled after baffling policy shifts, verified checkmarks became meaningless, and users abandoned ship for Bluesky and Mastodon in droves. Engagement plummeted, and what was once a cultural institution became a meme of its former self. Musk might still call it "the town square," but in 2024, X was more like the local landfill.

2. Amazon: Innovation takes a coffee break

Amazon’s five-day return-to-office mandate alienated employees, sparked accusations of "quiet firing," and triggered a mass exodus of talent. Workers who couldn’t — or wouldn’t — move closer to offices were forced out, and with them went years of expertise and innovation. This was the HR equivalent of smashing a robot with a sledgehammer for a company obsessed with efficiency. Quiet quitting? More like loud mismanagement.

3. Cybertruck: Trapezoids of doom

Tesla’s Cybertruck finally hit the road in 2024 — and immediately rolled into a ditch. Recalls for defective inverters, cameras that didn’t work, and windshield wipers that couldn’t handle drizzle made the truck a laughingstock. Its resale value tanked, and its polarizing design still looked like a failed geometry assignment. Sure, it turns heads, but only because people can’t believe it exists.

4. Apple Vision Pro: $3,500 worth of ‘why?’

Apple’s Vision Pro wowed in demos and dazzled on paper, but in practice, it was a solution in search of a problem. At $3,500, it was more curiosity than game-changer, with no killer app to justify the cost. Apple fans drooled, but most consumers shrugged. A technological marvel? Yes. A must-have device? Not even close.

5. Intel: Relic of a bygone era

In 2024, Intel continued to drift further into irrelevance. Its "AI PCs" barely moved the needle, and the 13th and 14th Gen Core processors — repackaged versions of last year’s chips — left consumers unimpressed. Meanwhile, Arm-based chips like Apple’s M4 and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite set new benchmarks for performance and efficiency. Intel used to lead the charge; now it’s trailing behind, yelling at the clouds.

6. CrowdStrike: Trust misplaced

CrowdStrike had one job: keep systems secure. Instead, it botched a software update that caused a global IT outage, affecting millions of Windows devices and denting its reputation. For a company built on trust, this colossal failure had customers second-guessing their investments. Cybersecurity giant? More like cybersecurity headache.

7. AI wearables: The dumbest ‘smart’ gadgets

The Rabbit R1 and Humane AI Pin proved that just because you can make something "smart" doesn’t mean you should. The Rabbit R1 was clunky, impractical, and destined for the junk drawer, while the Humane AI Pin overheated, lacked features, and came with a ridiculous price tag. AI wearables promised innovation but delivered irrelevance.

8. Sonos: The sound of failure

Sonos hit a new low with a buggy app update that frustrated customers and delayed hardware launches. Employee warnings about the rollout were ignored, leading to a $30 million fiasco, a 25% stock drop, and layoffs. For a company synonymous with high-quality sound, 2024 was a tone-deaf performance.

Winners

1. AI tools and platforms: Finally living up to the hype

2024 was the year AI started earning its buzz. Google’s rebranding of Bard to Gemini came with the release of Gemma 2 models, which gave developers powerful tools and helped Google claw its way back into the AI race. OpenAI’s GPT series remained the gold standard, tackling everything from legal briefs to code fixes, while Adobe’s Firefly turned non-designers into creative pros. For once, the AI hype didn’t feel overblown.

2. NVIDIA: Ruler of the AI kingdom

NVIDIA dominated 2024, selling out its Blackwell chips for 2025 before the year even ended. The company raked in $35.1 billion in quarterly revenue, a 94% jump, and pocketed $19.3 billion in profit. It also launched Fugatto, an AI tool for generating and remixing audio, and kicked Intel out of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. NVIDIA didn’t just win 2024; it owned it.

3. Open source software: Proving collaboration wins

Open source thrived in 2024, with AI models like LLaMA 3, Falcon, and Gemma 2 empowering developers to build without barriers. Meanwhile, proprietary overreach backfired — HashiCorp’s restrictive Terraform license spawned the popular OpenTofu fork. And while the Open Source AI Definition (OSAID) sparked debate, it underscored open source’s growing influence. When companies closed doors, open source opened new ones.

4. Arm-based chips: The future of computing

Arm processors continued their meteoric rise, led by Apple’s M4 and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite. The Mac Mini M4 made desktops portable, the M4 MacBook Pros redefined laptop performance, and the M4 iPad Pro rendered traditional laptops obsolete. Snapdragon turned Windows devices into serious contenders, leaving Intel in the dust. Arm wasn’t just the future — it was the present.

5. Bluesky: The cool kid on the block

While X imploded, Bluesky soared. Its decentralized model, sleek interface, and user-first policies made it the social media platform of choice for anyone fleeing Musk’s circus. Every time X rolled out a new policy, Bluesky gained users. By year’s end, it wasn’t just an alternative — it was the new standard.

6. Matter Protocol: Smart homes that actually work

Matter Protocol finally made smart homes functional by forcing Apple, Google, and Amazon to collaborate. Devices that couldn’t communicate before were now seamlessly integrated, making smart home setups less of a headache. It’s about time.

7. Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses: AR without the cringe

Meta surprised everyone with Ray-Ban Smart Glasses that were lightweight, stylish, and useful. Hands-free calls and subtle AR overlays made the glasses practical, not gimmicky. For once, AR tech didn’t feel embarrassing — it felt innovative.

8. iPhone 16: Stellar hardware, meh intelligence

Apple’s iPhone 16 proved you can still dominate with brute hardware force, even if your AI game is… underwhelming. The base model packed the new A18 chip, boasting a 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, and 8GB of RAM — a serious performance boost that left Android rivals scrambling. The cameras? A 48MP main shooter and improved 12MP ultra-wide lens delivered stunning photos, even if the selfies still look like you.

Conclusion

As we enter 2025, the tech industry remains a volatile and unpredictable landscape. The winners will continue to push boundaries, while the losers will struggle to adapt to the rapidly changing technological landscape. One thing is certain: The future of tech is full of promise and peril, and the next year promises to be another thrilling ride.

FAQs

Q: What were the biggest tech fails of 2024?
A: X, Amazon, Cybertruck, Apple Vision Pro, Intel, CrowdStrike, AI wearables, and Sonos all had a rough year.

Q: What were the biggest tech wins of 2024?
A: AI tools and platforms, NVIDIA, open source software, Arm-based chips, Bluesky, Matter Protocol, and Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses all had a great year.

Q: What’s next for tech in 2025?
A: Expect AI to continue dominating, Arm-based chips to keep rising, and open source software to remain a major player. The future of tech is full of promise and peril, and we can’t wait to see what’s ahead.

When I first examined whether it’s possible to fight back against AI-generated plagiarism, and how that might work, it was January 2023, just a few months into the world’s exploding awareness of generative AI.

This is an updated version of that original January 2023 article. When I first tested GPT detectors, I used three: the GPT-2 Output Detector, Writer.com AI Content Detector, and Content at Scale AI Content Detection (which is apparently now called BrandWell).

The best result was 66% correct from the GPT-2 Output Detector. I did another test in October 2023 and added three more: GPTZero, ZeroGPT (yes, they’re different), and Writefull’s GPT Detector. Then, in the summer of 2024, I added QuillBot and a commercial service, Originality.ai, to the mix. This time, I’ll also be adding Grammarly’s beta checker.

In October 2023, I removed the Writer.com AI Content Detector from our test suite because it failed back in January 2023, it failed again in October, and it failed in summer 2024. However, it now appears to work, so I’m including it in the test suite. See below for a comment from the company, which their team sent me after the original article was published in January.

What I’m testing for and how I’m doing it

Before I go on, though, we should discuss plagiarism and how it relates to our problem. Merriam-Webster defines “plagiarize” as “to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own; use (another’s production) without crediting the source.”

This definition fits AI-created content well. While someone using an AI tool like Notion AI or ChatGPT isn’t stealing content, if that person doesn’t credit the words as coming from an AI and claims them as their own, it still meets the dictionary definition of plagiarism.

Test Results

Here are the test results for the above text, which I wrote myself:

• GPT-2 Output Detector: 99.98% real
• Writer.com: 95% human-generated content
• BrandWell AI Content Detection: Passes as human
• GPTZero: 98% human
• ZeroGPT: 22% AI GPT Your Text is Most Likely Human written
• Writefull GPT Detector: 1% likely this comes from GPT-3, GPT-4 or ChatGPT
• Originality.ai: We are 99% confident that text is original
• QuillBot: 42% of text is likely AI-generated
• Grammarly: We didn’t detect common AI text patterns. Your document doesn’t appear to contain AI-generated text.

Final Thoughts

First, I’ll let ChatGPT have its say: AI-driven plagiarism is a growing problem, as AI tools like Notion AI and ChatGPT can generate text that is difficult to distinguish from that written by humans. There are several ways to detect whether a piece of text was generated by an AI, such as looking for repetitive or unusual patterns, checking for a lack of originality, or using a plagiarism checker. Plagiarism checkers like Turnitin, PlagScan, and Copyleaks may be able to identify certain characteristics of language model-generated text, but they are not foolproof.

Even the speciality tools I found were woefully unsuited to the task. There was some limited improvement over my tests in January. However, I certainly wouldn’t feel comfortable threatening a student’s academic standing or accusing them of cheating based on the results of these tools.

At this point, I don’t think we’re ready to let AI fight AI. Instead, we’ll have to rely on human perception (which means folks have to pay attention) to identify works generated by an AI.

Conclusion

So, what do you think? Can you tell if a piece is AI-generated? Have you used these AI writing tools in the months since they suddenly became available? Do you think they’re a help or hindrance to education and journalism? Let us know in the comments below.

FAQs

Q: Can AI-generated text be detected?
A: Yes, but it’s not easy. The results of the detectors I tested were inconsistent and not always accurate.

Q: Are AI writing tools helpful or harmful?
A: It depends on how they are used. AI writing tools can save time and effort, but they can also be used to produce misleading or biased content or to replace human writers.

Q: Can I use AI writing tools in education and journalism?
A: Yes, but it’s important to use them responsibly and to ensure that the content generated is accurate and original.

Q: Are plagiarism checkers effective?
A: Plagiarism checkers like Turnitin, PlagScan, and Copyleaks may be able to identify certain characteristics of language model-generated text, but they are not foolproof.