Switzerland’s Google Trends for 2023 has seen the alpine nation veer away from football and online games and towards artificial intelligence and events overseas. People across Swiss cities and cantons took to the internet to stay updated with global headlines over the last year, with three world events making up the top five.

ChatGPT tops most Googled list in Switzerland

After 2022’s list was dominated by the Ukraine War, the World Cup and Wordle, 2023 saw Switzerland’s search history focus much more on global events and AI. This year, the groundbreaking chatbot ChatGPT found itself as the most searched term in the alpine nation.

The tool, launched on November 30, 2022, has revolutionised the world of work, with many companies now using ChatGPT to make staff more productive. “Few technology topics have attracted as much attention this year as AI chatbots,” Google wrote in a press release.

However, its meteoric rise in popularity combined with its sudden and mass usage has led to some teething issues and criticism, with some noting inaccuracies in the AI's responses to complex queries. Those in healthcare, technology and especially education have also struggled to grapple with the ease with which ChatGPT can manufacture semi-accurate yet competent texts for students, with some universities and schools choosing to ban the technology from the classroom.

Credit Suisse and Israel - Gaza top Swiss Google list

In second place on the Google list is arguably the biggest corporate scandal in Switzerland since the bankruptcy of Swissair in the early 2000s: the crisis at Credit Suisse of March 2023. With the bank having to weather scandal after scandal before agreeing to a bailout from the Swiss National Bank and a negotiated merger with UBS, it’s little surprise that CS Stock (CS Aktie) was the second most Googled term in 2023.

The scandal was seen as a threat to Switzerland’s reputation for good and stable banking and finance. So much so that “Monsterbank” a reference to the trillion-franc portfolio the newly merged bank controls, was named the “word of the year” by the University of Applied Sciences in Zurich.

Despite beginning later in the year, the War in Israel and Gaza was the third most searched term in 2023 as a whole. From a Swiss perspective, the government is currently in the process of banning Hamas and labelling the group a terrorist organisation - this is expected to happen officially in February. Likely as a consequence of the spiking and sexual offence allegations involving frontman Till Lindemann, German band Rammstein took fourth.

Famous figures Googled in Switzerland this year

When it comes to local Swiss stars, Eurovision 2023 star Remo Forrer was the most Googled - he placed 20th out of 26th for his song Waterguns. Swiss goalkeeper Yann Sommer, tennis star Stan Wawrinka and soon-to-be-retired Federal Councillor Alain Berset rounded out the top four. 

The three most Googled international stars were French comedian Pierre Palmade, Till Lindemann and Andrew Tate, while Oppenheimer, the Barbie Film and Avatar 2 took the podium places for films. Finally, when it came to stars who have passed away in the last year, Swiss citizen and Queen of Rock Tina Turner took the top spot, after she passed away at her home in Canton Zurich in May 2023.

Most Googled terms and questions in Switzerland in 2023

In all, here are the 10 most Googled terms in Switzerland for 2023:

1. ChatGPT - AI chatbot.
2. CS Stock - related to the Credit Suisse scandal.
3. War in Israel and Gaza
4. Rammstein - related to the scandal involving Till Lindemann.
5. Earthquake Türkiye - a reference to the 7,8 magnitude earthquake that hit Syria and Turkey in February 2023.
6. Brienz - related to the rockslide that missed the town by a “hair’s breadth.”
7. Titanic - related to the implosion of the Titan submersible near the wreck of the RMS Titanic.
8. Lampedusa - the southernmost island of Italy where a significant number of asylum seekers land in their attempts to reach the European Union.
9. Dalai Lama - the spiritual head of Buddhism who was caught in a controversy when he was recording kissing and asking a child to “suck his tongue.” He has since apologised for the incident.
10. Lützerath - a village evicted to make way for the expansion of the Garzweiler II surface mine. Climate activists squatting in the village were evicted by police in January 2023.

Here are the most commonly asked questions in Switzerland:

• What is ChatGPT?
• What is AI?
• How can I delete My AI off Snapchat?
• How many museums are there in Switzerland?
• How many cows are there in Switzerland?
• How deep is the Titanic?
• What is a Little Grebe? - for context, the grebe was named the Swiss Bird of the Year in 2023.
• What is PFAS (Per- and polyfluorinated alkyl compounds)?
• What will happen to CS shares in the event of a takeover?
• Why were fake lashes invented?
• Why is there a war in Israel?

For more information, and to see what other terms made it into the top 10s, check out the official report.