A fresh dive into 24,910 top Hacker News posts since 2019 shows that AI chatter didn’t blow up with ChatGPT—it took off after GPT-4 landed in early 2023. The study used OpenAI’s Batch API and a lean GPT-5-mini to crunch the numbers.
Turns out, 52% of the AI talk was positive, and the busiest stretch? 2025.
Market signal: Dev interest didn’t follow the hype. It followed the tools. Real traction started when models got deeper, not flashier.
