We've been tracking 571+ AI companies across 200+ data sources for months. One pattern keeps showing up: the companies with the most press coverage are often NOT the ones with the most actual technical output.
We call it the hype/reality gap. It compares press coverage volume against actual signals: GitHub activity, research output (arXiv papers), product launches, and community mentions. The ratio tells you whether a company is shipping or just announcing.
This week's data
Thinking Machines Lab jumped +597 places in the rankings in 7 days on just 6 mentions — but those 6 mentions were all substantive technical coverage, not PR announcements. That's a real signal.
Companies with the biggest positive gap (more reality than hype — the 🏆 ones): Western Digital (reality score 14.6, hype score 0.1), ServiceNow, Open WebUI
The hype/reality ratio matters most when a company is in positions 4-20. That's where CTR suffers most when the substance doesn't match the coverage.
The method
We score technical output (commits, papers, product launches, versioned releases) separately from media coverage volume. A 🏆 emoji = company is under-hyped relative to output. A 🤡 emoji = significant hype gap.
The full live rankings update every 5 minutes at SectorHQ.
If you want the weekly signal digest in 3 minutes, BandPass covers the most interesting movements each day.
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