But.... as companies injected billions into startups, scientists and AI experts began sounding the alarm over AI's potential dangers.

ELON MUSK: "And here we are for the first time really in human history with something that's going to be far more intelligent than us."

JOE BIDEN: "To realize the promise of AI and avoid the risk, we need to govern this technology..."

Here's what to expect in the world of AI... in 2024.

From manufacturing to entertainment -- nearly every industry has embraced the tech.

Investors have poured $27 billion into generative AI startups, according to Pitchbook.

One estimate from consultancy PwC suggests AI-related economic impacts could spike to almost $16 trillion globally by 2030.

That's nearly the gross domestic output of China.

But a key question is whether the future of AI will continue to be deliberated behind closed doors by a privileged few in Silicon Valley.

Regulators are determined to have a say.

The EU's AI Act aims to establish guardrails for the tech..

Britain and the U.S. are drafting rules, too.

2024 is set to be the biggest election year in history - and AI could play an outsized role.

AI-POWERED CAMPAIGN ROBO-CALLER ASHLEY: "My name is Ashley and I'm an artificial intelligence volunteer..."

The tech has already been conscripted to make campaign calls in the U.S.

But there is concern about AI-generated misinformation targeting voters.

NewsGuard, a company that has a ratings system for news and information sites, has already found over 600 "unreliable" AI-generated sites in multiple languages last year.

The winners and losers of the AI era only just emerging.

Civil rights advocates have raised concerns over potential bias in fields such as recruitment.

Unions worry about AI eliminating some jobs altogether, like writing computer code or drafting entertainment content.

Among the winners:

Chipmaker Nvidia, whose processors are the hottest commodity in the global AI race.

And then there's Sam Altman.

In the final months of 2023, the CEO of OpenAI, the non-profit behind ChatGPT, was ousted only to be brought back days later.

The spectacle became a debate over Altman's push to commercialize AI... versus a slower approach.

Team Altman - won.

SAM ALTMAN: "I think this will be the most transformative and beneficial technology humanity has yet invented."