So-called artificial intelligence systems soared in popularity, supercharging political [disinformation](https://www.wired.com/story/slovakias-election-deepfakes-show-ai-is-a-danger-to-democracy/)[programs](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/19/ai-generated-disinformation-us-elections).Internet shutdowns and slowdowns became [firmly entrenched](https://www.accessnow.org/publication/internet-shutdowns-in-2023-mid-year-update/)in authoritarian toolkits to censor progressive speech. And the [continuing revelations](https://securitylab.amnesty.org/latest/2023/11/serbia-civil-society-threatened-by-spyware/)of zero-click attacks drove home the perilous omnipotence of the military-digital complex.
We built a state-of-the-art 3-year strategy to make Tails a formidable adversary to these powerful, repressive forces. We made plans to better understand the use of Tails by journalists and activists, and understand and improve the use of Tails in the [majority world](https://www.harvarddesignmagazine.org/articles/shahidul-alam-on-the-majority-world/).All this while introducing new features and improvements to existing features that make Tails even more relevant.
We didn't stop there. We also continued to add functionality to the Persistent Storage. Now, it is easier to both do [[backups of the whole Persistent Storage|news/version_5.14/]] and [[delete the data of a each feature|news/version_5.12/]].
The Tor Connection Assistantis slicker. We improved the error messaging when connecting automatically to the Tor network and the handling of captive portals.
Connecting to Tor is only part of the story. At times, Tails users may find themselves on slow Tor circuits. And worse, unable to troubleshoot issues. So, we've made it easier to close pesky Tor circuits that we can sometimes land on.
We also asked [Radically Open Security](https://www.radicallyopensecurity.com/)to do a security audit of Tails. Their [[findings|news/audit_by_ROS]] affirmed our cutting-edge security.
We completed a bunch of home improvement projects. So our new home is even more welcoming to folks speaking different languages, we overhauled the language switcher. We just added Catalan translations too. *Gràcies per ser aquí!*
**Sprints.** Our core team organized 2 sprints this year. Around Easter, we bunkered up in Paris. The agenda was budgeting the year ahead and building a roadmap to financial health. Also on the agenda: French cheese, spicy Indian snacks, and [Dixit](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/39856/dixit). Later in the year, we met again in a mix of online and in-person participation. We reflected on our efforts this year and hatched plans for a more sustainable future of the project.
