Chatbot fever has catapulted interest in "AI" well beyond crypto-related search terms like "Bitcoin" on Google this year.

Global searches for artificial intelligence shot up in November 2022 alongside the launch of chatbot ChatGPT — and have continued widening the gap ever since. AI now commands a Google Trends score of 91 versus just 22 for Bitcoin.

The narrative flip comes after years of crypto outpacing tech's hottest new field. But between Bitcoin's 2022 bear market and this year's proliferation of viral chatbots like Google's Bard, interest has gravitated back towards AI innovation.

Speculative crypto asset cycles still fail to match raw curiosity in bleeding-edge technology like conversational AI. Even with Bitcoin rebounding 150% from its mid-2022 lows, queries for the flagship cryptocurrency pale in comparison globally.

The surge in AI interest creates stiff competition even for the crypto sector's long-held attention share from retail investors.