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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 21 Oct 2026 news.ycombinator.com ↗
release markers

All stories (baseline)

29.5k +16.2% yr as of Sep 2026
05.0k10.0k15.0k20.0k25.0k30.0k35.0k201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 ProGPT-6 Astra
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AI mentions

ChatGPT

267 −1.8% yr as of Sep 2026
02004006008001.0k1.2k201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 ProGPT-6 Astra
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Claude

831 +119.3% yr as of Sep 2026
05001.0k1.5k2.0k201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 ProGPT-6 Astra
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GPT

272 +100.0% yr as of Sep 2026
0200400600800201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 ProGPT-6 Astra
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LLM

806 +20.5% yr as of Sep 2026
02004006008001.0k1.2k1.4k201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 ProGPT-6 Astra
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OpenAI

742 +122.8% yr as of Sep 2026
02004006008001.0k201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 ProGPT-6 Astra
click a month to drill into daily png csv

Anthropic

449 +203.4% yr as of Sep 2026
0100200300400500201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 ProGPT-6 Astra
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Artificial intelligence

141 +62.1% yr as of Sep 2026
020406080100120140160201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 ProGPT-6 Astra
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Mentions of "AI" — broad match (do not use)

6.2k +48.8% yr as of Sep 2026
02.0k4.0k6.0k8.0k201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 ProGPT-6 Astra
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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.

Mentions of "AI" — exact match

5.8k +54.8% yr as of Sep 2026
01.0k2.0k3.0k4.0k5.0k6.0k7.0k201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 ProGPT-6 Astra
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Vendors

Grok (xAI)

76 +90.0% yr as of Sep 2026
020406080100120140201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 ProGPT-6 Astra
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Gemini (Google)

126 −22.2% yr as of Sep 2026
0100200300400201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 ProGPT-6 Astra
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⚠ Before December 2023 this line counts the gemini:// protocol, a crypto exchange and a NASA programme, not Google. Read only the years after 2023.

DeepSeek

107 +118.4% yr as of Sep 2026
0100200300400500201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 ProGPT-6 Astra
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Qwen (Alibaba)

95 +93.9% yr as of Sep 2026
020406080100120201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 ProGPT-6 Astra
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Llama (Meta)

37 +76.2% yr as of Sep 2026
020406080100120140160201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 ProGPT-6 Astra
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Mistral

24 +4.3% yr as of Sep 2026
020406080201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 ProGPT-6 Astra
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Perplexity

25 −32.4% yr as of Sep 2026
020406080201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 ProGPT-6 Astra
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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)

58 −19.4% yr as of Sep 2026
020406080100120140160201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 ProGPT-6 Astra
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Market context

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

Nvidia

177 +12.7% yr as of Sep 2026
050100150200201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 ProGPT-6 Astra
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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

24 −14.3% yr as of Sep 2026
050100150200250201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 ProGPT-6 Astra
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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

85 −22.7% yr as of Sep 2026
050100150200250300201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 ProGPT-6 Astra
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Programmers used the word "cursor" for databases and screens long before the editor. Only the growth after 2023 is about AI.

Windsurf

1 −83.3% yr as of Sep 2026
01020304050201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 ProGPT-6 Astra
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MCP (Model Context Protocol)

302 +23.8% yr as of Sep 2026
0100200300400500600201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 ProGPT-6 Astra
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"Agent"

2.3k +211.2% yr as of Sep 2026
05001.0k1.5k2.0k2.5k3.0k3.5k201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 ProGPT-6 Astra
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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)

51 0.0% yr as of Sep 2026
020406080100120201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 ProGPT-6 Astra
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The discourse

"Vibe coding"

55 −50.0% yr as of Sep 2026
020406080100120140160180201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 ProGPT-6 Astra
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"AI slop"

100 +316.7% yr as of Sep 2026
020406080100120201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 ProGPT-6 Astra
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Share of HN

Share of HN mentioning "AI" derived

19.8% of stories +33.2% yr as of Sep 2026
05101520201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Copilot GAClaude 3Gemini 2.5 ProGPT-6 Astra
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The stories that mention the exact word "AI", divided by all Hacker News stories.

Figures

Hacker News: latest figure, change, range and coverage of each series
SeriesLatestChangeMinMaxCoverage
All stories (baseline)29.5k+16.2% yr20.5k34.2kJan 2015 — Sep 2026
ChatGPT267−1.8% yr01.3kJan 2015 — Sep 2026
Claude831+119.3% yr01.9kJan 2015 — Sep 2026
GPT272+100.0% yr0928Jan 2015 — Sep 2026
LLM806+20.5% yr01.5kJan 2015 — Sep 2026
OpenAI742+122.8% yr0974Jan 2015 — Sep 2026
Anthropic449+203.4% yr0565Jan 2015 — Sep 2026
Artificial intelligence141+62.1% yr29160Jan 2015 — Sep 2026
Mentions of "AI" — broad match (do not use)6.2k+48.8% yr2797.8kJan 2015 — Sep 2026
Grok (xAI)76+90.0% yr0147Jan 2015 — Sep 2026
Gemini (Google)126−22.2% yr0382Jan 2015 — Sep 2026
DeepSeek107+118.4% yr0541Jan 2015 — Sep 2026
Qwen (Alibaba)95+93.9% yr0122Jan 2015 — Sep 2026
Llama (Meta)37+76.2% yr0168Jan 2015 — Sep 2026
Mistral24+4.3% yr080Jan 2015 — Sep 2026
Perplexity25−32.4% yr089Jan 2015 — Sep 2026
Copilot (Microsoft)58−19.4% yr0153Jan 2015 — Sep 2026
Nvidia177+12.7% yr7210Jan 2015 — Sep 2026
Cursor85−22.7% yr0327Jan 2015 — Sep 2026
Windsurf1−83.3% yr054Jan 2015 — Sep 2026
MCP (Model Context Protocol)302+23.8% yr0629Jan 2015 — Sep 2026
"Agent"2.3k+211.2% yr133.5kJan 2015 — Sep 2026
RAG (retrieval-augmented generation)510.0% yr0130Jan 2015 — Sep 2026
"Vibe coding"55−50.0% yr0181Jan 2015 — Sep 2026
"AI slop"100+316.7% yr0116Jan 2015 — Sep 2026
Layoffs24−14.3% yr1270Jan 2015 — Sep 2026
Share of HN mentioning "AI"19.8%+33.2% yr0.24%21.9%Jan 2015 — Sep 2026
Mentions of "AI" — exact match5.8k+54.8% yr537.3kJan 2015 — Sep 2026
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