Share of new apps with "AI" in the name, by year: 0.1% through 2016

Share of new apps with "AI" in the name, by year: 0.1% through 2016. 0.8% in 2022. 3% in 2023. 7% in 2025. 6% so far in 2026.

The peak was last year.

Here is the surprising part. The apps that did it were not the losers. Apps from 2023 to 2025 with AI in the name reached a hundred ratings at twice the rate of the rest, 14% versus 7%. Riding the word worked while the word was rising.

Now the share is falling, which means the customers who searched for it have found what they wanted and the label has stopped filtering. The next round of businesses named AI will be the ones nobody finds.

Timing a buzzword is a real strategy with a real expiry date. The tell that it has expired is the moment everyone in your industry has adopted it.

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