The Corporate Buzzword Cycle
This chart tracks how often nine technology and business-fashion phrases appeared in searchable SEC 10-K filings from 2001 through the latest complete year. Each phrase has its own color, with darker cells marking that phrase’s historical peak; mentions measure disclosure language, not investment, adoption, or sincerity.
What does it show?
Artificial intelligence has become the dominant tracked corporate phrase, while ESG and cloud computing have cooled from their filing-share peaks.
Methodology
Uses the SEC EDGAR full-text search endpoint to count calendar-year 10-K filings that contain each exact phrase, divided by 10-K search results that contain the phrase “annual report” in the same calendar year. That denominator avoids the search service's 10,000-result cap in early years and should be read as a consistent searchable-filing universe rather than a census of every 10-K. The display begins in 2001 and ends with the latest complete year. Each term is an exact, case-insensitive phrase rather than a semantic topic: Web3 does not include “web 3.0,” and artificial intelligence does not automatically include AI or machine learning. A mention can be critical, incidental, or legally required; it is not evidence of investment, adoption, sincerity, or future performance. Filing counts can include more than one 10-K from the same issuer in unusual fiscal years. Automated access uses a declared user agent and stays below the SEC's fair-access limit.