Timeline of computing 2020–present

This article presents a detailed timeline of events in the history of computing from 2020 to the present. For narratives explaining the overall developments, see the history of computing.

Significant events in computing include events relating directly or indirectly to software, hardware and wetware.

Currently mostly[clarification needed] excluded are:

  • events in general robotics
  • events about uses of computational tools in biotechnology and similar fields (except for improvements to the underlying computational tools) as well as events in media-psychology except when those are directly linked to computational tools

Currently excluded are:

Growth of supercomputer performance, based on data from the top500.org website. The logarithmic y-axis shows performance in GFLOPS.
 Combined performance of 500 largest supercomputers
 Fastest supercomputer
 Supercomputer in 500th place
Share of operating systems families in TOP500 supercomputers by time trend
Usage share of web browsers in November 2020 according to StatCounter

2023

Software-hardware systems

Software

AI software

  • News outlets report on a preprint that describes the development of a large language model software that can answer medical questions with a 67.6% accuracy on MedQA and nearly matched human clinician performance when answering open-ended medical questions, Med-PaLM. The AI makes use of comprehension-, recall of knowledge-, and medical reasoning-algorithms but remains inferior to clinicians. As of 2023, humans often – if not most often – conduct query-based web searches, read websites and/or conduct physical doctor's visits to inquire health information, despite various difficulties, partly as they typically did not undergo any formal training in media literacy, digital literacy or health literacy, as such is not part of schools curricula in most education systems as of 2023.
  • A novel potentially significantly more efficient text-to-image approach, as implemented in MUSE, is reported.
  • A first successful autonomous long-duration operation, including simulated combat, of a modified F-16 fighter jet, X-62A, by two AI software is reported.
  • A text-to-speech synthesizer, VALL-E, that can be trained to mimic anybody's voice with just three seconds of voice data and may produce the most natural-sounding results to date is reported in a preprint.
  • A use of world models for a wide range of domains that makes decisions using e.g. different 3D worlds and reward frequencies and outperforms previous approaches, DreamerV3, is reported as a step towards general artificial intelligence in a preprint.
  • A large language model, ProGen, that can generate functional protein sequences with a predictable function, with the input including tags specifying protein properties, is reported.
  • A deep-learning model, ZFDesign, for zinc finger design for any genomic target for gene- and epigenetic-editing is reported.
  • Software for generating 3D dynamic scenes (text-to-4D), MAV3D, is reported.
  • A study reports the development of deep learning algorithms to identify technosignature candidates, finding 8 potential alien signals not detected earlier.
  • Chatbot and text-generating AI, ChatGPT (released on 30 Nov 22), a large language model, becomes highly popular, with some considering the large public's attention as unwarranted hype as potential applications are limited, similar software such as Cleverbot existed for many years, and the software is, on the fundamental level, not structured toward accuracy – e.g. providing seemingly credible but incorrect answers to queries and operating "without a contextual understanding of the language" – but only toward essentially the authenticity of mimicked human language. It was estimated that only two months after its launch, it had 100 million active users. Applications may include solving or supporting school writing assignments, malicious social bots (e.g. for misinformation, propaganda, and scams), and providing inspiration (e.g. for artistic writing or in design or ideation in general).

Hardware

2022

Software-hardware systems

The overall process of testing the reproducibility and robustness of the cancer biology literature via Eve
  • The first data transmission to exceed 1 petabit per second (Pbit/s) using only a single laser and a single optical chip is demonstrated by European researchers.
  • A satellite-free GPS-alternative higher-resolution positioning system using existing telecommunications networks is demonstrated, SuperGPS.
  • Impossible Metals announces its first underwater robotic vehicle, 'Eureka 1', has completed its first trial of selectively harvesting polymetallic nodule rocks from the seabed nearly without harming the environment (as with other seabed mining) to help address the rising global need for metals for renewable energy system components – mainly batteries. It operates autonomously and uses advanced computer vision, e.g. using AI to determine which rocks have signs of visible life on them so that they are not harvested.

Software

  • Computational biologists report the largest detailed human genetic genealogy, unifying human genomes from many sources for insights about human history, ancestry and evolution. It demonstrates a novel computational method for estimating how human DNA is related, in specific as a series of 13 million linked trees along the genome, a tree-sequence, which has also been called "the largest human family tree"[image needed].
  • Researchers report the creation of a version control system for cell engineering, suggesting it to be a "significant step toward more open, reproducible, easier to trace and share, and more trustworthy engineering biology", and possibly increase safety by enabling faster tracing of organisms lab of origin and design details via barcoding.
Measured results of the study about change in intelligence in children 9–12 from screen time watching, screen time Socializing and screen time gaming.
Deep learning systems learn intuitive basic physics similar to infants and any physics via potential variables-identification from only visual data (of virtual 3D environments).
AI company DeepMind reports that its AlphaFold program has determined the likely structure of nearly every protein known to science.
  • News outlets report that in July, for the first time, more people watched streaming TV than cable within the U.S.[globalize].
  • A researcher reports that the social media app TikTok adds a keylogger to its, on iOS essentially unavoidable, in-app browser in iOS, which allows its Chinese company to gather, for example, passwords, credit card details, and everything else that is typed into websites opened from taps on any external links within the app. Shortly after the report, the company claims such capabilities are only used for debugging-types of purposes. To date, it has largely not been investigated which and to which extent (other) apps have capacities for such or similar data-collection.[additional citation(s) needed]
~August: Artificial intelligence art becomes highly sophisticated and popular and starts winning art prizes. The two images are made via the open source Stable Diffusion.
  • News outlets report artificial intelligence art has won the first place in a digital art competition. Such artistic imagery is generated using input consisting of text and sometimes images, usually including parameters such as artistic style (text-to-image generation). Around the time, an expert concludes that "AI art is everywhere right now", with even experts not knowing what it will mean, a news outlet establishes that "AI-generated art booms" and reports about issues of copyright and automation of professional artists, a news outlet investigates how online communities (e.g. their rules) confronted with many such artworks react, a news outlets raised concerns over deepfakes, a magazine highlights possibilities of enabling "new forms of artistic expression", an editorial notes that it may be seen as a welcome "augmentation of human capability".[additional citation(s) needed] Moreover, additional functionalities – such as enabling the use of user-provided concepts (like an object or a style) learned from few images for novel personalized art generated from the associated word/s or expanding beyond the borders of artistic images in the same style – are reported. On 22 August, Stable Diffusion is released as open source software, making the technology much more accessible and free to use on personal hardware as well as extendable by third-parties (i.e. other software projects).
  • Researchers develop falsity scores for over 800 contemporary elites on Twitter and associated exposure scores.
  • A university reports on the first study of the new privacy-intrusion Web tracking technique of "UID smuggling" by the ad industry, which finds it to be prevalent and largely not mitigated by latest protection tools – such as Firefox's tracking protection and uBlock Origin – and contributes to countermeasures.
  • Text-to-3D software becomes sophisticated, shortly after generative AI art. OpenAI releases Point-E, a machine learning system that can generate 3D models from text prompts, similar to previously released GET3D and Magic3D by Nvidia. DreamFusion from Google may also be notable.

Hardware

  • Scientists report a so far unique and unknown feature of material VO2 – it can "remember" previous external stimuli (via structural rather than electronic states), with potential for e.g. data storage.

2021

A study finds that carbon emissions from Bitcoin mining in China – where a majority of the proof-of-work algorithm that generates current economic value is computed, largely fueled by nonrenewable sources – have accelerated rapidly and would soon exceed total annual emissions of countries like Italy, interfering with climate change mitigation commitments.
  • A study finds that carbon emissions from Bitcoin mining in China – where a majority of the proof-of-work algorithm that generates current economic value is computed, largely fueled by nonrenewable sources – have accelerated rapidly and would soon exceed total annual emissions of countries like Italy, interfering with climate change mitigation commitments.
  • Neuralink reveals a male macaque with chips embedded on each side of its brain, playing a mind-controlled version of Pong. While similar technology has been demonstrated for decades, and wireless implants have existed for years, some observers note that the organization increased the number of implanted electrodes that are read wirelessly.
  • Scientists review materials strategies for organic neuromorphic devices, suggesting that "their biocompatibility and mechanical conformability give them an advantage for creating adaptive biointerfaces, brain-machine interfaces, and biology-inspired prosthetics".[relevant?]
Researchers publish the first in-depth study of Web browser tab interfaces.
  • Researchers publish the first in-depth study of Web browser tab interfaces. They found that many people struggle with tab overload and conducted surveys and interviews about people's tab use. Thereby they formalized pressures for closing tabs and for keeping tabs open. The authors then developed related UI design considerations which could enable better tools and changes to the code of Web browsers – like Firefox – that allow knowledge workers and other users to better manage their tabs.
  • Operation of the U.S. Colonial Pipeline is interrupted by a ransomware cyber attack.[relevant?]
  • A new record for the smallest single-chip system is achieved, occupying a total volume of less than 0.1 mm³.
Scientists demonstrate the first brain–computer interface that decodes neural signals for handwriting and has a record output speed of up to 90 characters per minute – more than double the previous record.
  • Scientists demonstrate the first brain–computer interface that decodes neural signals for handwriting. The character output speed of a patient with a paralyzed hand was up to 90 characters per minute – more than double the previous record. Each letter is associated with a highly distinctive pattern of activity in the brain, making it relatively easy for the algorithm to distinguish them.
  • Archivists initiate a rescue mission to secure enduring access to humanity's largest public library of scientific articles, Sci-Hub, due to the site's increased legal troubles, using Web and BitTorrent technologies.
  • Google demonstrates a research project called LaMDA, an automatic language generation system designed to sustain a conversation with a person on any topic.
  • The most comprehensive 3D map of the human brain – of a millionth of a brain and requiring 1.4 petabytes of storage space – is published.
  • El Salvador passes the Bitcoin Law, making the first country give cryptocurrency and bitcoin a status of legal tender. The law was passed by the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador on June 8, 2021, giving the cryptocurrency bitcoin the status of legal tender within El Salvador after September 7, 2021. It was proposed by President Nayib Bukele. The text of the law states that "the purpose of this law is to regulate bitcoin as unrestricted legal tender with liberating power, unlimited in any transaction, and to any title that public or private natural or legal persons require carrying out".
  • GitHub Copilot, a programmer assistant AI, is released. Later FOSS variants of the tool include FauxPilot.
Scientists debate and research cognitive impacts of smartphones and digital technology in general and by prevalent forms of use.
  • In the debate the cognitive impacts of smartphones and digital technology a group reports that, contrary to widespread belief, scientific evidence doesn't show that these technologies harm biological cognitive abilities and that they instead change predominant ways of cognition – such as a reduced need to remember facts or conduct mathematical calculations by pen and paper outside contemporary schools. However, some activities – like reading novels – that require long attention-spans and don't feature ongoing rewarding stimulation may become more challenging in general.
Open 3D Engine is released.
DeepMind's AlphaFold AI predicts the structures of over 350,000 proteins, including 98.5% of the ~20,000 proteins in the human body, along with degrees of confidence for accuracy.
  • DeepMind announces that its AlphaFold AI has predicted the structures of over 350,000 proteins, including 98.5% of the ~20,000 proteins in the human body. The 3D data along with their degrees of confidence for accuracy is made freely available with a new database, doubling the previous number of protein structures in the public domain.
  • Scientists publish the first complete neuron-level-resolution 3D map of a monkey brain which they scanned within 100 hours.
A researcher reports that solar superstorms would cause large-scale global months-long Internet outages.
Researchers develop machine learning models for genome-based early detection and prioritization of high-risk potential zoonotic viruses.
  • Scientists conclude that personal carbon allowances (PCAs) could be a component of climate change mitigation. They find that the economic recovery from COVID-19 and novel digital technology capacities open a window of opportunity for first implementations. PCAs would consist of – e.g. monetary – credit-feedbacks and decreasing default levels of per capita emissions concessions. The researchers find that recent advances in machine learning technology and "smarter home and transport options make it possible to easily track and manage a large share of individuals' emissions" and that feedback effective in engaging individuals to reduce their energy-related emissions and relevant new personalized apps could be designed. Issues may include privacy, evaluating emissions from individuals co-running multinational companies and the availability and prices of products and services.
  • Cerebras announces a new hardware and software platform that can support AI models of 120 trillion parameters, enabling neural networks greater than the equivalent number of human brain synapses.
  • Pathogen researchers report the development of machine learning models for genome-based early detection and prioritization of high-risk potential zoonotic viruses in animals prior to spillover to humans. They conclude that their tool could be used for virus surveillance for pandemic prevention via (i.a.) measures of "early investigation and outbreak preparedness" and would have been capable of predicting SARS-CoV-2 as a high-risk strain.
  • A loss of public IP routes to the Facebook DNS servers due to malfunctioning capacity-assessment code, routinely triggered after configuration changes of routers of the company's data centers, that resulted in stoppage of BGP routing information broadcasts causes the 2021 Facebook outage.
  • A study of data traffic by popular smartphones running variants of the Android software finds substantial by-default data collection and sharing with no opt-out (i.e. even the NetGuard firewall, which is not installed by default, may not reliably and completely prevent such data traffic) and implications for users' privacy, control and security.
  • Media outlets report about novel technologies for virtual try-ons of clothes for more sustainable fashion and improved online shopping, which increased relative to shopping at local shops that store clothes due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • A method of DNA data storage with 100 times the density of previous techniques is announced.
  • Scientists demonstrate that grown brain cells integrated into digital systems can carry out goal-directed tasks with performance-scores. In particular, playing a simulated (via electrophysiological stimulation) Pong which the cells learned to play faster than known machine intelligence systems, albeit to a lower skill-level than both AI and humans. Moreover, the study suggests it provides "first empirical evidence" of information-processing capacity differences between neurons from different species.
  • Researchers reported the development of organic low-power neuromorphic electronics which they built into a robot, enabling it to learn sensorimotorically within the real world, rather than via simulations like in the study above. For the chip, polymers were used and coated with an ion-rich gel to enable the material to carry an electric charge like real neurons.
  • Researchers report the development of a system of machine learning and hyperspectral camera that can distinguish between 12 different types of plastics such as PET and PP for automated separation of waste of, as of 2020, highly unstandardized[additional citation(s) needed] plastics products and packaging.
  • A scientific review summarizes research and data about telemedicine. Its results indicate that, in general, outcomes of such ICT-use are as good as in-person care with health care use staying similar.
  • The Log4Shell security vulnerability in a Java logging framework is publicly disclosed two weeks after its discovery. Because of the ubiquity of the affected software, experts have described it as a most serious computer vulnerability. In a high-level meeting, the importance of security maintenance of open-source software – often also carried out largely by few volunteers – to national security was clarified.
Schema of how the open database, interactive visualization tools, protocols and a metadata ontology for reporting device data, open-source code for data analysis, etc. can support perovskite solar cell development
  • Researchers report the development of a database and analysis tool about perovskite solar cells which systematically integrates over 15,000 publications, in particular device-data about over 42,400 of such photovoltaic devices. Authors described the site – which requires signing up to access the data and uses software that is partly open source but to date not free software – as a participative "Wikipedia for perovskite solar cell research" and suggest that extensively capturing the progress of an entire field including interactive data exploration functionalities could also be applicable to many fields in materials science, engineering and biosciences.
  • A third main convergent graphical shell (Maui Shell) and UI framework (MauiKit), based on KDE/Kirigami, for the GNU/Linux operating system on smartphones, desktops and other devices, is released.

2020

Awards and challenges

To display all pages, subcategories and images click on the "►":
Computer-related events(11 C, 10 P)
Award / challenge Year Recipient/s / winner/s Description
FSF Free Software Awards – Advancement of Free Software award 2020 Bradley M. Kuhn For his work in enforcing the GNU General Public License (GPL) and promoting copyleft through his position at Software Freedom Conservancy.
FSF Free Software Awards – Advancement of Free Software award 2021 Paul Eggert A computer scientist who teaches in the Department of Computer Science at the University of California, Los Angeles, contributor to the GNU operating system for over thirty years and current maintainer of the Time Zone Database.
FSF Free Software Awards – Social benefit award 2020 CiviCRM Free program that nonprofit organizations around the world use to manage their mailings and contact databases
FSF Free Software Awards – Social benefit award 2021 SecuRepairs An association of information security experts who support the right to repair
FSF Free Software Awards – Award for outstanding new Free Software contributor 2020 Alyssa Rosenzweig Leads the Panfrost project, a project to reverse engineer and implement a free driver for the Mali series of graphics processing units (GPUs) used on a wide variety of single-board computers and mobile phones.
FSF Free Software Awards – Award for outstanding new Free Software contributor 2021 Protesilaos Stavrou A philosopher who since 2019 has become a mainstay of the GNU Emacs community through his blog posts, conference talks, livestreams, and code contributions.

Deaths

2023

2022

2021

2020

Further topics

Very broad outlines of topic domains and topics with substantial progress during the decade not yet included above with a Further information: link:

Software

COVID-19

Economic events and economics

General topics

New releases

To display all pages, subcategories and images click on the "►":
2020s software(9 C)
2020s robots(2 C, 1 P)

See also


This page was last updated at 2023-03-31 16:45 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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