DeepSeek Stole the Show… but Not Really
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 January 2025 versus December 2024 and January 2024. We currently monitor 270+ topics, with data and insights going back to March 2019.
To kick off this year, only four of January’s top ten topics increased in volume from December 2024: #1 Artificial Intelligence, experiencing a 26% month over month (MoM) increase; #7 Supply Chain, an 8% MoM increase, #8 Tech Compliance, a 5% increase; and #10 Cybersecurity with a 7% increase in volume.
Do You Live in an Echo Chamber?
Did you think that DeepSeek stole the show in January? If yes, I’m sure you are not alone. Artificial Intelligence has been at the top of Big Valley’s Top Conversations in Tech for months. In fact, in January alone, over 580K articles mentioned artificial intelligence. Key January stories that stood out include the inauguration, the DeepSeek incident, and the various President Trump executive orders.
While these topics should not be dismissed, we should ask ourselves, how much coverage did these topics actually generate? Does consumer mindshare match the topic share? Let’s look:
How much, if at all, did artificial intelligence citations increase around the day of the inauguration?
Looking at the volume of articles over time, coverage did not increase until roughly a week after the inauguration—though this peak coincided with the DeepSeek coverage. When looking just at the week of the inauguration, coverage peaked on January 22nd when President Trump announced the Stargate AI initiative.
How much did DeepSeek make up the broader artificial intelligence conversation?
By adding “DeepSeek” to the “artificial intelligence” query (or search), the volume of articles decreased. In fact, the number of articles dropped from 580K to around 50K articles, which means that the DeepSeek coverage accounted for only 7% of the overall #1 Artificial Intelligence conversation.
How much, if at all, did artificial intelligence come up in articles about executive orders and policy conversations?
Articles about artificial intelligence and executive orders made up around 22% of the broader AI conversation. Coverage on this topic steadily increased over the course of the month, peaking on January 27th—a week after President Trump took office and the weekend the DeepSeek coverage picked up in full force. Much of the conversation coalesced around DeepSeek entering the market and the repeal of the Biden AI executive order.
What else was there, in terms of narratives around #1 Artificial Intelligence?
To answer this, Big Valley analyzed the coverage and created a visual cluster map to showcase trends and how they related to each other (via the connecting lines).
As shown in the visual, additional trends within the #1 Artificial Intelligence conversation include, for example, copyright and IP debates (with some discussion around DeepSeek, for example) and sector-specific AI deployments, like the use of AI in healthcare.
The data is clear: while DeepSeek generated coverage, a vast majority of the #1 Artificial Intelligence conversation focused on other topics.
Top Conversation’s Biggest Gains
Taking a month over month view, two topics stand out with some of the biggest gains: #55 Content Moderation, up 307% since December, and #35 AI Agents, up 81%. Meta announced changes to its platform, including changes to its content moderation and fact checking policies, leading to a severe uptick in citations on this topic—peaking on January 7th. #35 AI Agent citations stayed consistent over the course of the month with no significant peaks; coverage highlighted new use cases for the technology (e.g., AIXBT).
Top Conversation’s Biggest Losses
Conversations that experienced significant dips in coverage range from #133 Enterprise Application to #81 Enterprise Software. A notable callout: even though #3 Bitcoin was in the Top Ten, it still experienced one of the biggest month-over-month losses, dropping 38% from the number of December 2024 citations, and demonstrates why it is so important to provide context for the data.
Top Takeaways
- Big news overshadows everyday coverage. Yes, DeepSeek is an important part of the broader AI conversation, but many journalists and analysts reported on other AI narratives, like those related to AI ethics, copyright issues and more.
- Politics drives conversation. Many AI trends overlapped with regulatory issues, executive orders, or presidential announcements. For those navigating this space, keep an eye out of what comes out of the White House.
- AI Agents is on the rise. The artificial intelligence subtopic received one of the biggest gains from December, almost doubling from 28K+ articles to 50K.
2025 kicked off with some big events and announcements—February should bring some level of stability. Then, with the outliers removed, we can dig further into what trends are here to stay.
Check out previous installments of Top Conversations in Tech here.
