What fundamentally changed about AI in late 2022 with ChatGPT's release, compared to AI that existed before?
The 2022 breakthrough was AI becoming conscious and able to truly understand language
AI was invented in 2022 — there was no meaningful AI before ChatGPT
Generative AI crossed a quality and accessibility threshold — anyone could use it for genuinely useful work, without technical expertise, for the first time
ChatGPT was the first AI to run on computers; previous AI required specialized hardware
Explanation
AI predates ChatGPT by decades — spam filters, recommendations, and voice assistants were already widespread. The ChatGPT moment was a quality and usability threshold crossing: generative AI became good enough and accessible enough that non-specialists could use it for real work. The technology changed; the accessibility and quality made the difference.