y-axis

Hacker News

Monthly Hacker News story counts since 2015 for AI terms — vendors, tools and protocols, market context, and the discourse itself — with an all-stories baseline and a derived share. Source: the Algolia HN Search API.

cadence · monthly 28 series updated 5 Sep 2026 news.ycombinator.com ↗
release markers

All stories (baseline)

29.1k +14.6% yr as of Aug 2026
05.0k10.0k15.0k20.0k25.0k30.0k35.0k201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 Pro
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AI mentions

ChatGPT

211 −47.1% yr as of Aug 2026
02004006008001.0k1.2k201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 Pro
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Claude

806 +62.8% yr as of Aug 2026
05001.0k1.5k2.0k201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 Pro
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GPT

117 −75.3% yr as of Aug 2026
0200400600800201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 Pro
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LLM

817 −2.4% yr as of Aug 2026
02004006008001.0k1.2k1.4k201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 Pro
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OpenAI

465 +3.8% yr as of Aug 2026
02004006008001.0k201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 Pro
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Anthropic

296 +112.9% yr as of Aug 2026
0100200300400500201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 Pro
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Artificial intelligence

104 +18.2% yr as of Aug 2026
020406080100120140160201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 Pro
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Mentions of "AI" — broad match (do not use)

5.7k +28.8% yr as of Aug 2026
02.0k4.0k6.0k8.0k201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 Pro
This search also counts words such as "air", "aim" and "Airbnb", so it makes the growth look too small. Read the exact-match line instead.
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Mentions of "AI" — exact match

5.3k +30.2% yr as of Aug 2026
01.0k2.0k3.0k4.0k5.0k6.0k7.0k201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 Pro
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Vendors

Grok (xAI)

95 +26.7% yr as of Aug 2026
020406080100120140201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 Pro
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Gemini (Google)

104 −49.8% yr as of Aug 2026
0100200300400201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 Pro
⚠ Before December 2023 this line counts the gemini:// protocol, a crypto exchange and a NASA programme, not Google. Read only the years after 2023.
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DeepSeek

139 +178.0% yr as of Aug 2026
0100200300400500201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 Pro
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Qwen (Alibaba)

122 +154.2% yr as of Aug 2026
020406080100120201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 Pro

Llama (Meta)

29 −39.6% yr as of Aug 2026
020406080100120140160201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 Pro

Mistral

12 −29.4% yr as of Aug 2026
020406080201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 Pro

Perplexity

18 −79.8% yr as of Aug 2026
020406080201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 Pro
Perplexity is also a standard measure of how well a language model predicts text. Some stories are about that measure, not the company.

Copilot (Microsoft)

48 −34.2% yr as of Aug 2026
020406080100120140160201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 Pro

Market context

Neither line measures AI talk. Both lines counted many stories before AI arrived, so read only the growth.

Nvidia

199 +11.2% yr as of Aug 2026
050100150200201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 Pro
Hacker News covered graphics cards long before AI. The 15–38 stories a month up to 2022 are about hardware, so only the growth is about AI.

Layoffs

27 +3.8% yr as of Aug 2026
050100150200250201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 Pro
This line counts every layoff story. The peak of 114 stories in June 2022 came from the rise in interest rates, not from AI.

Tools & protocols

Cursor

125 −16.1% yr as of Aug 2026
050100150200250300201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 Pro
Programmers used the word "cursor" for databases and screens long before the editor. Only the growth after 2023 is about AI.
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Windsurf

3 −86.4% yr as of Aug 2026
01020304050201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 Pro

MCP (Model Context Protocol)

335 +32.9% yr as of Aug 2026
0100200300400500600201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 Pro
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"Agent"

2.1k +160.0% yr as of Aug 2026
05001.0k1.5k2.0k2.5k3.0k3.5k201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 Pro
Federal agents, user agents and real-estate agents also match. They add about 25 stories a month and that number stays flat, so only the growth is about AI.

RAG (retrieval-augmented generation)

31 −63.5% yr as of Aug 2026
020406080100120201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 Pro

The discourse

"Vibe coding"

51 −61.7% yr as of Aug 2026
020406080100120140160180201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 Pro

"AI slop"

87 +155.9% yr as of Aug 2026
020406080100120201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 Pro

Share of HN

Share of HN mentioning "AI" derived

18.3% of stories +13.7% yr as of Aug 2026
05101520201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 Pro
The stories that mention the exact word "AI", divided by all Hacker News stories.
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Figures

SeriesLatestChangeMinMaxCoverage
All stories (baseline)29.1k+14.6% yr20.5k34.2kJan 2015 — Aug 2026
ChatGPT211−47.1% yr01.3kJan 2015 — Aug 2026
Claude806+62.8% yr01.9kJan 2015 — Aug 2026
GPT117−75.3% yr0928Jan 2015 — Aug 2026
LLM817−2.4% yr01.5kJan 2015 — Aug 2026
OpenAI465+3.8% yr0974Jan 2015 — Aug 2026
Anthropic296+112.9% yr0565Jan 2015 — Aug 2026
Artificial intelligence104+18.2% yr29160Jan 2015 — Aug 2026
Mentions of "AI" — broad match (do not use)5.7k+28.8% yr2797.8kJan 2015 — Aug 2026
Grok (xAI)95+26.7% yr0147Jan 2015 — Aug 2026
Gemini (Google)104−49.8% yr0382Jan 2015 — Aug 2026
DeepSeek139+178.0% yr0541Jan 2015 — Aug 2026
Qwen (Alibaba)122+154.2% yr0122Jan 2015 — Aug 2026
Llama (Meta)29−39.6% yr0168Jan 2015 — Aug 2026
Mistral12−29.4% yr080Jan 2015 — Aug 2026
Perplexity18−79.8% yr089Jan 2015 — Aug 2026
Copilot (Microsoft)48−34.2% yr0153Jan 2015 — Aug 2026
Nvidia199+11.2% yr7210Jan 2015 — Aug 2026
Cursor125−16.1% yr0327Jan 2015 — Aug 2026
Windsurf3−86.4% yr054Jan 2015 — Aug 2026
MCP (Model Context Protocol)335+32.9% yr0629Jan 2015 — Aug 2026
"Agent"2.1k+160.0% yr133.5kJan 2015 — Aug 2026
RAG (retrieval-augmented generation)31−63.5% yr0130Jan 2015 — Aug 2026
"Vibe coding"51−61.7% yr0181Jan 2015 — Aug 2026
"AI slop"87+155.9% yr0116Jan 2015 — Aug 2026
Layoffs27+3.8% yr1270Jan 2015 — Aug 2026
Share of HN mentioning "AI"18.3%+13.7% yr0.2%21.9%Jan 2015 — Aug 2026
Mentions of "AI" — exact match5.3k+30.2% yr537.3kJan 2015 — Aug 2026
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