Record WatchRecord

The AI Hype Index just hit a record low

16 October 2026 · Timeframe: Weekly, last 29 weeks (window still filling toward 52)

Our AI Hype Index reads 73 out of 100, its lowest level since we began tracking it daily (prior low: 74). By our volume measure, the predicted AI vulnerability flood looks further off today than on any prior day we have on record.

Why it matters

The market is selling an AI vulnerability tsunami. Our data shows record CVE volume but not the predicted flood. A record low in the hype measure is the evidence to brief a board with before it budgets for a wave that has not arrived.

What to do

• Security leaders. Brief leadership that AI-driven CVE growth is real but tracking below the doom forecasts. Sustain, do not panic-buy.
• Lean IT orgs. Inventory the AI/ML tools you actually run; that is your real exposure, not the headline number.
• MSPs. Add AI-software components to client asset inventories now, before they proliferate.

Our take

Calm, evidence-backed framing of AI risk is itself a differentiator when most of the market is selling the tsunami.