Jiyu Kokuminsha announced the 30 nominees for its 42nd annual buzzword awards, and among them was "Chappie" (チャッピー), the Japanese nickname for ChatGPT. The name's origin is unclear, but mentions had grown on social media from around that spring, spreading mainly among younger users who treated ChatGPT as an everyday confidant. That a user-coined nickname — not a product name — made the shortlist was read as a sign that conversational AI had gone from the name of a tool to a character in daily life.