AI and Cybersecurity Conversations Dominate Summer 2024 Discussions

A Rollercoaster to End the Summer

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 July 2024 versus June 2024 and July 2023. We currently monitor 270+ topics, with data and insights going back to March 2019. 

Do you remember everything that happened in July 2024? To summarize…United States President Joe Biden decided not to run for a second term, leading to questions about the Democrat nominee for the rapidly upcoming election. Former President Donald Trump faced an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania. The world experienced an outage driven by a CrowdStrike crisis, affecting millions of people spanning from the healthcare industry to many, many grounded flights.

Why the recap? These global events drastically impacted the traditional news cycle and, indirectly, the volume of tech news coverage. The three global events drew attention, shifting many eyes away from standard coverage to questions on the upcoming 2024 presidential election. For reference, a simple volume-over-time comparison search found that articles containing the word “Biden” increased 45% from June 2024 to July 2024—or from 1.5+ million citations to over 2 million.

The top ten conversations in tech shifted slightly. #1 Artificial Intelligence continued to reign supreme, though it experienced a decline (down 52% month over month). Interestingly, a year-over-year comparison also showed a 7% decrease in AI citations as well (July 2024 vs July 2023). Bitcoin jumped back up to #2 (from #6 in June) with #3 Drone(s) following close behind. #4 Smartphone jumped back into the top ten, #5 Cryptocurrencies did not shift despite a decreases in both month-over-month and year-over-year citations, and #6 Cybersecurity moved up one place from June 2024. Notably, looking year-over-year, it appears that July is a quieter month across the board. We’ll continue tracking to see how, if at all, the conversations increase or if the upcoming US presidential election continues to steal the show.

July’s AI coverage primarily highlighted new product features, like the Samsung AI features announced at the Unpacked event (e.g., portrait studio, interpreter, etc.) and use cases, like Taco Bell’s adoption of AI into its drive-thru services. Unsurprisingly, AI continued to be at the center of conversations that discussed the pros (e.g., reducing energy consumption) and cons (e.g., energy demand) of AI. Concerns about the election also led to joint AI and election coverage, including:

• Calls for federal AI regulations because of cybersecurity and deepfake concerns–resulting in a variety of proposed regulation across the United States;
• Questions about impartiality leading to accusations that Google’s new Gemini AI product “won’t answer any negative questions about Joe Biden;”
• Arguments that Vice President Kamala Harris faces a “faster, uglier version of the Internet” wherein AI was positioned as powering false narratives and conspiracy theories.

Although #6 Cybersecurity decreased from June 2024, the conversation increased 20% from July 2023. Cybersecurity coverage spiked in mid-July following the CrowdStrike crisis with many outlets leveraging the term cybersecurity to describe the organization. Aside from the CrowdStrike coverage, the fallout from the AT&T data breach drew attention. Top-tier outlets, like Forbes, argued that the breach undermined consumer trust in the brand. Further, the DOJ reportedly asked AT&T to keep the data breach from customers, citing national security and public safety concerns.

The Bottom Line

• Consider the bigger picture and stay in tune with broader news cycles. Given the number of questions about the US presidential election alone, it is plausible that routine communication efforts got lost in the noise. Undoubtedly, the election will continue to fuel concerns and discussions around data security.
• Cybersecurity issues, like data breaches, elicit more than just safety concerns –they impact how consumers view and trust brands. Rather than relying on media coverage, consider conducting media analyses to capture top consumer concerns.