OpenAI released ChatGPT, a conversational interface built on its GPT-3.5 language model, describing it as a research preview. Within five days it reportedly crossed a million users; within two months it was estimated to have reached 100 million, making it the fastest-growing consumer application on record to that point.

The launch reframed the entire technology market. If 2022 had been defined by the death of zero-interest consumer software, the last day of November marked the genesis of the modern AI era — a shift that would, within two years, redirect roughly a third of all global venture funding toward artificial intelligence.

The timing was pointed. As late-stage capital fled the rest of the ecosystem, a new narrative arrived that could absorb essentially unlimited investment: foundation models, the compute to train them, and the applications built on top. Incumbents scrambled, and a generation of startups pivoted overnight.

In retrospect, no single product launch of the five-year window did more to shape it. The venture winter did not end because rates fell; it ended because a new object of belief arrived.