AI Holds the Top Spot as Specific Narratives Lose Steam
Broad AI stayed dominant, but February favored fewer breakout stories, while enterprise infrastructure, operational software, and selective security themes showed the clearest resilience.
Welcome to Top Conversations in Tech, where we isolate the hottest trends, falling stars and shifting market dynamics to help technology marketers maximize their relevance. This month’s data reflects news and blog citations in February 2026 versus January 2026 and February 2025. We currently monitor 270+ topics, with data and insights going back to March 2019.
Artificial Intelligence remained the largest conversation by a wide margin, but many of the categories surrounding it declined month over month and year over year. Across the Top 10 and much of the full list, the dominant signal was contraction rather than rotation into a single new growth story. Where gains did appear, they were concentrated in a smaller set of categories and were often modest relative to the scale of the broader pullback.
Executive Summary
#1 Artificial Intelligence held essentially flat MoM at 510,245 mentions, which preserved its lead as the largest conversation in the dataset. That stability stood out because many adjacent categories fell sharply: #18 Machine Learning declined -28% MoM, #19 Generative AI dropped -29% MoM, and #45 AI Agents fell -77% MoM. #34 Large Language Models was one of the few AI-related exceptions, rising +11% MoM, but the larger February signal was stability at the top paired with declines across many subcategories.
Outside AI, the broader pattern was also negative. #3 Bitcoin fell -10% MoM, #4 Supply Chain dropped -17%, #7 Cybersecurity declined -17%, #8 Data Center fell -16%, and #9 Digital Transformation dropped -24%. The same direction showed up year over year across many high-volume topics, including #10 Cryptocurrencies (-81% YoY), #15 Blockchain (-77% YoY), #17 E-commerce (-71% YoY), and #18 Machine Learning (-65% YoY). February did not produce a strong replacement narrative at comparable scale. Instead, the data showed selective resilience in a smaller set of categories, especially enterprise and engineering topics such as #39 Enterprise Software (+102% YoY), #51 Enterprise Resource Planning/ERP (+212% YoY), #80 DevOps (+29% MoM), #81 Observability (+42% MoM), and #85 Kubernetes (+48% MoM).
One of the clearest February signals came from the Top 10 itself: nearly every one of the highest-volume categories declined month over month. Among the Top 10, only #2 Drones posted growth, rising +16% MoM. #1 Artificial Intelligence held flat, while the remaining eight categories decreased from January.
For B2B tech companies, the implication is straightforward: “AI” still carries scale, but performance is no longer consistent across every adjacent term. Specific language choices matter more when category-level momentum no longer lifts everything around it.
Relative Strength Came from a Narrower Group
Even in a broadly down month, some categories did stand out on either MoM or YoY change. Among higher-ranked categories, #2 Drones rose +16% MoM, #39 Enterprise Software rose +3% MoM and +102% YoY, and #50 Digital Payment grew +9% MoM.
Several lower-volume categories also showed notable MoM growth. #96 Microservices rose +105%, #171 Secure Browser surged +365%, #191 Voice Remote climbed +160%, #187 NoSQL increased +72%, #85 Kubernetes rose +48%, #81 Observability gained +42%, #163 Extended Detection Response/XDR increased +49%, and #139 Serverless rose +30%. These were not the biggest conversations overall, but they were among the clearest positive movers in February.
Enterprise and Engineering Categories Held Up Better Than Much of the List
Some of February’s most durable-looking results came from enterprise and engineering categories, particularly when viewed relative to the broader decline across the dataset. #39 Enterprise Software rose +3% MoM and +102% YoY. #51 Enterprise Resource Planning/ERP fell -25% MoM following an elevated January, but remained up +212% YoY. #71 Data Governance was down slightly month over month at -4% but still rose +7% YoY. #90 Supply Chain Security/Cybersecurity fell -4% MoM and was up +123% YoY.
There was also a cluster of positive movement in software delivery and operations categories. #80 DevOps rose +29% MoM, #81 Observability climbed +42%, #85 Kubernetes increased +48%, #96 Microservices jumped +105%, and #141 API Integration rose +2%. These categories did not dominate the list by volume, but they did outperform much of the broader ranking in February.
Security Performance Was Mixed, Not Uniform
Security remained a large presence across the rankings, but February did not support a single clean directional read across the category group. Several high-volume security-related categories moved lower month over month, including #7 Cybersecurity (-17%), #37 Data Breach (-36%), #40 Cyber Attack (-43%), #42 Data Security (-38%), #49 Ransomware (-15%), and #117 Zero Trust (-47%).
At the same time, some narrower security categories showed positive movement. #38 Security Operations/SecOps fell -17% MoM but was up +38% YoY. #77 Cloud Security declined -47% MoM but was up +11% YoY. #163 Extended Detection Response/XDR rose +49% MoM, #171 Secure Browser surged +365% MoM and +187% YoY, and #175 API Security increased +9% MoM. Taken together, February’s security results looked mixed rather than consistently strong or weak.
Biggest Gains
February’s gains were selective. At the top of the list,
- #2 Drones rose +16% MoM,
- #34 Large Language Models, +11%,
- #39 Enterprise Software, +3%.
Beyond the top tiers, the largest percentage increases came from
- #171 Secure Browser rose +365% MoM,
- #66 Election Security, +189%,
- #191 Voice Remote, +160%,
- and #96 Microservices, +105%.
Biggest Losses
The sharpest February declines spread across both high-volume and lower-volume categories;
- #45 AI Agents fell -77% MoM, one of the steepest drops anywhere in the ranking.
- #54 Open Source, -68%,
- #46 Multimedia, -64%,
- #41 Smart Home, -61%,
- #107 No Code/Low Code, -60%,
- #101 Metaverse -58%,
- #60 Big Data, -58%,
- and #153 Digital Health, -87%.
Top Takeaways
- Artificial Intelligence remained the dominant conversation by volume, but that strength was uneven across adjacent categories. #1 Artificial Intelligence held flat MoM, while #18 Machine Learning fell -28%, #19 Generative AI dropped -29%, and #45 AI Agents declined -77%.
- February was broadly a down month across the rankings. Most of the Top 10 declined month over month, and many large categories also remained sharply down year over year, including #10 Cryptocurrencies, #15 Blockchain, #17 E-commerce, and #18 Machine Learning.
- Relative strength came from a narrower set of categories rather than from a broad market-wide upswing. Notable positive movers included #2 Drones, #39 Enterprise Software, #80 DevOps, #81 Observability, #85 Kubernetes, #96 Microservices, and #171 Secure Browser.
Looking Ahead
- Does #1 Artificial Intelligence remain stable while adjacent categories such as #19 Generative AI and #45 AI Agents continue to decline?
- Can categories with relative February strength, including #39 Enterprise Software, #80 DevOps, #81 Observability, #85 Kubernetes, and #96 Microservices, sustain their gains in a weaker overall environment?
Check out previous installments of Top Conversations in Tech here.
