There’s no question these are challenging times, but I remain optimistic about the future. I’m lucky that my work gives me insight into all the ways the world is getting better. Here are just a couple ways we made progress in 2023.

This year, we got a glimpse of how AI will shape the future by supercharging innovation pipelines across all sectors. It was a big year to think about all the things AI can achieve in the coming years.

Dr. Karikó and Dr. Weissman saw the potential of mRNA when few others did and fought tooth and nail to study it—resulting in revolutionary vaccines that have saved tens of millions of lives. They won their well-deserved Nobel Prizes this year for work that has truly changed the world.

At COP28, it became clear how sophisticated and nuanced the climate conversation has become. It made me even more optimistic that we can win the climate fight. Here’s the keynote I delivered in Dubai.

New research has found that one dose of the vaccine for HPV—the virus that causes cervical cancer—is just as effective as a two-dose regimen. This guidance will make vaccines especially accessible for women in low- and middle-income countries.

In the year since passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, the law has already created over 170,000 clean energy manufacturing jobs—and more than 1.5 million are expected in the next decade. I’m excited to continue engaging with leading innovators through my work with Breakthrough Energy.