20 Years of AI: What the Keywords Tell Us

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a defining buzzword of our time. But AI isn't just something companies talk about-it's changing how we work, create, and connect. Over the past five years, conversations about AI have shifted dramatically, and the data around keyword trends tells a story of its own.

At Domo on Data, we tracked the rise (and occasional fall) of AI-related keywords in Google search patterns. Some terms, like "machine learning" and "automation," have shown steady popularity over time, while others, like "generative AI" or "LLMs," seemed to appear almost overnight. Looking back at the data helps us see how quickly the conversation around AI evolves-and what's capturing attention right now.

If you're a longtime reader, yes-this is the same approach we took to analyzing the popularity of Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce, and the NFL.

Let's look at 20 years of AI search history

First, we considered historical searches for the term "AI," short for artificial intelligence. We made the visual above a 20-year lookback because AI, while ubiquitous, has long been a popular-if mysterious-topic.

Forbes reported that the term "artificial intelligence" was coined in 1955 when a group of scientists from Dartmouth College, Harvard University, Bell Labs, and IBM proposed a study on the topic.

Our visual starts in January 2004, a couple of years after the dot-com bubble burst. AI received very few monthly searches until a spike between October 2011 and January 2012. We can't tell exactly why, but we suspect the integration of Siri into the iPhone 4 on October 4, 2011, had something to do with it.

Of course, we see an enormous increase in Google searches of AI starting in November 2022. ChatGPT's initial release happened on November 30 that year. Since then, AI's popularity hasn't waned and even peaked in November 2024.

Who wins the title of the most popular chatbot?

When ChatGPT launched, OpenAI got a definite first-mover advantage. The release captured the public's attention-and apparently never lost it.

In the visual above, we tracked the most advanced chatbots powered by large language models (LLMs): Gemini from Google, Copilot from Microsoft, ChatGPT from OpenAI, and Claude from Anthropic. ChatGPT goes from 0 on November 20, 2022, to 10 just two weeks later. Today, it's up to 100. The next most-search-for chatbot on Google is Gemini, which broke away from Copilot and Claude in February 2024.

What's next in the AI space…and for Domo

In nearly every facet of society and culture, trends come and go, whether discussing the Women's World Cup or Stranger Things.

That, of course, is true in the AI space, and we're seeing a new term crop up in your Google searches. That term is "AI agents" and a related term, "agentic AI." As you can see, the momentum started to pick up in April 2024, with a spiky climb through September. In the last two months, searches for "AI agents" seem to be hitting a fever pitch, something we're thrilled about at Domo.

From what we can tell, the data highlights how quickly AI has gone from a niche topic to a household term, with searches for "AI agents" and "agentic AI" now taking the spotlight. Buzzwords fade, but this one feels different-it might point to where AI is headed next.

If this piques your interest, Domo's on-demand webinar on agentic AI might be worth a look. Either way, it's clear: the AI story is just getting started.

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