When AI Broke the Buzzword Scale
This chart plots the same nine exact-phrase filing shares as overlapping ridgelines on one common vertical scale. Unlike the peak-normalized heatmap, ridge height preserves absolute magnitude: AI’s 2025 wave rises across several other phrases’ lanes. The overlaps are intentional and mentions still measure disclosure language rather than adoption or investment.
What does it show?
AI did not merely become the latest corporate fashion. Its 2025 filing share reached 9.3%, exceeding the peak of every other tracked phrase—including ESG at 6.3% and cloud computing at 4.5%.
Methodology
Uses the same observations and searchable-10-K denominator as The Corporate Buzzword Cycle, but preserves absolute mention shares on one common vertical scale rather than normalizing every phrase to its own peak. Each ridge begins at a separate visual baseline; its height is proportional to the percentage of searchable 10-K results containing the exact phrase. The overlap is deliberate: it makes unusually large filing-share waves cross other phrases' lanes. The display begins in 2001 and ends with the latest complete year. Exact-phrase matches measure disclosure language, not investment, adoption, sincerity, importance, or future performance. The denominator is a consistent searchable-filing universe, not an asserted census of every 10-K.