AI vs. Blockchain Mentions in Annual Reports
This chart compares exact-phrase SEC 10-K search matches for artificial intelligence and blockchain since 2017. Stacked bars reveal both the scale of corporate attention and its composition: AI’s peak is far larger than blockchain’s, though the same filing may appear in both searches.
What does it show?
AI and blockchain came closest to parity in 2018. By 2025, AI generated 88% of the two phrases’ combined search matches and appeared in seven times as many searchable 10-Ks.
Methodology
Derives annual exact-phrase search counts for “artificial intelligence” and “blockchain” from The Corporate Buzzword Cycle beginning in 2017, when blockchain first became visible in the searchable 10-K universe. Stacked bars show the sum of the two query-result counts and how that total divides between the phrases. Because one filing can mention both phrases, the stack combines search matches—not mutually exclusive companies or a part-to-whole share of filings. Tooltips preserve each phrase’s separate share of searchable 10-Ks. Exact matching, the searchable-filing denominator, and all interpretive limits are identical to the companion heatmap: mentions measure disclosure language, not investment, adoption, sincerity, or future performance.