Google Trends data indicates that search engine users this year have been more interested in artificial intelligence (AI) searches than in Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies. Since 2020, Bitcoin and occasionally crypto searches had managed to surpass AI searches, but according to data from Google, this trend started to change from August 2022.
Artificial Intelligence Gains Traction According to Google Trends Data
AI searches, particularly for OpenAI’s artificial intelligence model ChatGPT, garnered attention in its launch month of November 2022 and have since widened the gap with crypto-related search terms. The global interest in artificial intelligence currently stands at 91 Google Trends points, while Bitcoin remains at 22.
Google scores search terms on a scale from 0 to 100 based on the ratio of a topic’s searches to total searches across all topics. Bitcoin, affected by the bear market cycle that persisted through the second half of 2021 and much of 2022, may not find these results surprising. However, it has begun to regain the interest and value it lost this year.
Bitcoin started the year at $16,900, well below its all-time high of $68,729 on November 11, 2021, but has since gained about 150% in value, trading at $42,818 at the time of writing, according to CoinMarketCap data.
According to Google Trends data, Bitcoin searches are most popular in El Salvador, Nigeria, the Netherlands, Brazil, and Switzerland.
Growing Interest in Artificial Intelligence
In addition, artificial intelligence has had a bright year, from fears of AI taking actors’ jobs, to an increase in AI-related services, and excitement for new chatbots like ChatGPT, Google Bard, Meta AI, and GrokAI, with technology billionaire Elon Musk also entering the sector. Google Trend data shows that users in Vietnam, China, the Philippines, and Myanmar are particularly interested in artificial intelligence.
Autism Capital was one of the first to highlight this trend with a post to its 249,900 followers on December 26. One comment on the post suggested that the reason for this shift is that Bitcoin and crypto are relatively older areas of interest compared to artificial intelligence.
