It turns out that a majority of Google users are more interested in artificial intelligence (AI) than crypto. The launch of ChatGPT was considered to be the catalyst of this trend shift.
The Shift in Interest from Crypto to AI
According to Google Trends, searches related to Bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrencies were the fad going back to 2020. However, artificial intelligence terms started gaining traction in August 2022 as ChatGPT neared its rollout.
By November of that year, the same month ChatGPT was rolled out to the public, inquiries involving AI began to overtake crypto. From then on, the gap between them widened as people appeared to be drawn to topics about AI technologies.
Based on the metrics, AI searches commanded 91 points on Google Trends, which was a far cry from the score of Bitcoin at 22. This was despite the massive rally BTC has been experiencing lately and the massive exposure it was getting from mainstream media.
Google Trends uses 1 to 100 in scaling topics following their “proportion to all searches on all topics.” The points are determined by dividing each data point by the overall searches of the geography and time it represents in comparison to relative popularity. The higher the score, the better the subject sits on the rankings.
The Good and the Bad
The data revealed a surge in interest about AI chatbots, particularly ChatGPT, Google Bard, Meta AI, and GrokAI. Leading the AI searches are countries in the Asian region like Vietnam, China, the Philippines, and Myanmar.
However, there also appears to be a building momentum of some disconcerting terms related to the technology such as AI nude services and how it could take over artist’s jobs. For this reason, some countries have already taken measures to regulate the use of artificial intelligence technologies. One of the landmark events in this niche was the signing of US President Joe Biden of an executive order governing the safe, secure, and trustworthy use of AI.
Bitcoin Searches
For analysts, the results do not come as a surprise at all because Bitcoin only rallied late this year after a long bear market cycle that lasted from the end of 2021 through 2022. BTC started 2023 with more than 75% deficit from its all-time high of $68,789 on November 10, 2021, but it has since recovered up to $44,000 as the current year comes to a close.