Inksights: Media Intelligence Report | AI Media Trends | Inkhouse
Earlier this year, we launched our first Inksights: Media Intelligence Report, which analyzed media trends around IPO stories. This next installment of Inksights dives into what is likely the hottest topic of the moment — artificial intelligence (AI). What did we learn? AI’s dominance of media coverage is growing, but there are still some best practices for breaking through the noise to ensure your company’s story is seen and heard.
AI Media Coverage Volume Trends
The following looks at AI media coverage volume trends, including the drivers behind recent spikes and how communications professionals can use this insight to time their company’s AI news. We also dive into the popular terms in AI articles, like machine learning (ML), data, and large language models (LLMs), and how they evolve. Lastly, we share what we learned about writing in AI shorthand, such as properly abbreviating generative AI.
Main Drivers of AI News Cycles
There are three main drivers of AI news cycles: For instance, the largest AI news spike in 2024 (to date) was on March 19. What happened on or around that day? Microsoft hired Google DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman as the new CEO of Microsoft AI, Nvidia held its GTC developer conference, Databricks acquired Lilac, and the Department of Homeland Security unveiled its first AI roadmap.
If you’re curious about the most widely covered AI story of 2023, it was Meta’s debut of its new AI-focused products, including the “Meta AI” chatbot assistant.
ML and AI Trends
ML and AI are no longer as synonymous as the two terms once were. The clear trend over time shows that AI has no problem driving headlines on its own, but in 2024, ML is barely covered unless it is mentioned alongside its big brother. This means that if your company doesn’t have an ML story, it’s a good idea to avoid the term and find a more popular AI theme to attach to your point of view.
LLM in AI Coverage
In 2023, AI stretched its legs and separated a bit from the LLM term. What is also clear is that LLM is still a significant part of AI coverage. If your company has an LLM story, there are a good number of journalists who already understand the term and will likely be willing to connect with your experts as long as it provides a new twist on the existing conversation.
AI Data Focus
This analysis shows the popularity of data in AI articles. Even if you’re not a data company, you should be ready to answer data-related questions, specifically around what specific data powers your AI strategy (and where it comes from).
AI and Jobs
AI is now written about a lot more than just centering around the jobs term. While there may still be some jobs and workforce angles floating around the AI conversation, you may have a harder time convincing a journalist to care, so be really thoughtful about your story.
AP Style Corner
In August 2023, AP Stylebook added a new AI chapter with guidance for journalists on how to cover AI and key terms like generative AI. According to AP Style, the term is written as “generative AI” (with “generative” lowercase).
The media has spoken: Based on our analysis of AI media coverage, the majority of journalists write the shorthand for generative AI as “GenAI” – with a capital “G” and no space. Companies including OpenAI, Microsoft, and Databricks all write “GenAI” as the shorthand for generative AI.
Methodology
To keep the results-focused and accurate, we analyzed AI media coverage at top-tier national business and technology press, including Axios, Bloomberg, Business Insider, CIO.com, CNBC, eWEEK, Fast Company, Financial Times, Fortune, InformationWeek, InfoWorld, Network World, SiliconANGLE, TechCrunch, TechRepublic, VentureBeat, The Verge, The Wall Street Journal, WIRED, and ZDNet. We used several tools to conduct this analysis, including Cision and Meltwater.
