AI hype is up 75% in earnings calls, even when the link is tangential

Looking for a quick bump in buzz? Have you tried saying “AI” repeatedly to an audience of investors and analysts, even if your core business has little to do with the kind of technology being pioneered by firms like OpenAI?

A Marketwatch analysis of corporate earnings call transcripts found that even while the topic of AI isn’t coming up more often per se—it was brought up in 280 calls in 2023, roughly the same number of calls as during the same period in 2022—the amount of discussion time devoted to it is skyrocketing. Execs and analysts mentioned AI or artificial intelligence 1,770 times during those calls, up from 1,006 the prior year.

Executives from companies where AI could be a game-changer—such as Google parent company Alphabet, Nvidia, Broadcom, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise—were unsurprisingly up, Marketwatch found. But brass in other sectors found a way to work AI references in as well. Specific examples cited by Marketwatch include Range Resources, a natural gas company that referenced production-enhancing algorithms; Applebee’s owner Dine Brands Global, which mentioned AI-powered call centers; and Equity Residential, an apartment management company, which justified slow-recovering markets in Seattle and San Francisco on the basis that they are home to “AI and other innovations.”

Regulators are eyeing the buzz with raised eyebrows. The Federal Trade Commission—whose concern is antitrust and consumer protection rather than elevated stock prices—warned last month that if marketers think they “can get away with baseless claims that your product is AI-enabled, think again.”—TM