AI agent trend
AI agent is still climbing: overall interest is up +240% in a year, and holding over the last three months (+5%). Next Big's projection: likely higher in six months (a 8 in 10 chance it's higher). 6 independent sources rose with it, so it's more than one search engine's count.
Updated . Confirmed by 6 independent sources.
Next Big Pulse, weekly, 0 to 100 of its own peak. Confidence: high. What it's made of
- Searches a month
- 50K
- US estimate
- Overall interest, a year
- +240%
- Next Big Pulse
- Last 3 months
- +5%
- climbing
- Next 6 months
- 8 in 10 higher
- Next Big's projection, -11% to +50%
- Stage
- Exploding
- growing faster each month
- Peaks
- All year
- no seasonal peak
- A click is worth
- $20.90
- what advertisers pay
- Ranking difficulty
- 70/100
- held by big sites
What's next for AI agent
- Direction
- Climbing, +5% over the last 3 months.
- Next 6 months
- A 8 in 10 chance it's higher in six months; the likely range is -11% to +50%.
- Next 12 months
- Next Big's projection: likely to keep rising (+17%).
- What it opens
- Agents built for one job in one industry, the tools agents need to work safely (permissions, logs, testing), and courses or templates for teams adopting them.
The next wave inside it
Searches rising fastest alongside AI agent. Breakout means more than five thousand percent.
- openclawBreakout
- openclaw ai agentBreakout
- medviBreakout
- shop lcBreakout
- moltbookBreakout
- medvi reviewsBreakout
- embody reviewsBreakout
- hermesBreakout
New this week: ai news, google ai agent, ai travel agent, agentic ai, ai agent builder.
Is AI agent still growing?
Yes. Overall interest in AI agent is up +240% in a year, and still up +5% over the last 3 months. The line blends every source we read for it, each listed below with its own figures, and 6 independent sources rose with it.
- +5%in 3 monthsJun 2026 to this week
- +240%in 1 yearSep 2025 to this week
- +1,781%in 2 yearsSep 2024 to this week
Each figure compares overall interest at the end of the window with its start.
Who searches for it, and why
AI agent refers to software that uses a language model to plan and execute multi-step tasks with tools, memory and access to apps, from coding agents and browser agents to customer-service and personal assistants such as OpenClaw and Hermes. Searchers are developers, businesses and consumers trying to understand and adopt them. The category is the centre of AI investment. It signals demand for agent platforms, vertical agents, security, evaluation and hosting.
Most people search it to learn about it.
Where it's searched most
Interest in AI agent by US state, against the busiest state.
- Wyoming100
- Kansas46
- California26
- Washington25
- District of Columbia22
- Massachusetts19
- New York18
- Utah17
- Colorado17
- New Jersey16
What people ask about AI agent
Questions
- how to ai agents work
- how to ai agent
- how to ai agency
- how to build ai agents
- how to create ai agents
- how to make ai agents
Best
- best ai agents
- best ai agents for personal use
- best ai agent for coding
- best ai agent for stock trading
- best ai agent course
- best ai agent for research
Compared
- ai agent vs agentic ai
- ai agent vs chatbot
- ai agent vs llm
- ai agent vs ai model
- ai agent vs skill
- ai agent vs ai assistant
Cost
- ai agent for free
- ai agent cost
- ai agent cost per month
- ai agent cost comparison
- ai agent cost calculator
- manus ai agent alternative free
Near me
- ai agent near me
- ai agency near me
- airport agency near me
- ai agent course near me
- ai agent jobs near me
- ai agent classes near me
Alternatives
- ai agent alternative
- ai agent alternative to manus
- ai agent alternative to openclaw
- n8n ai agent alternative
- hermes ai agent alternative
Apps and tools
- ai agent for trading
- ai agent for stock trading
- ai agent for coding
- ai agent for business
- ai agent for android
- ai agent app
What's built around it
The apps, code and videos AI agent already has: where the market is, and where it isn't yet.
Apps, 23 in the store
Open-source code, 674K repos
Videos, last 30 days
404K videos · median 44K views: crowded for creators
- Anthropic CEO tells CNN how AI 'agent swarms' could threaten humanity
- Essential Skills for Becoming an AI Engineer: RAG, AI Agents, & More
- Build Your First AI Agent in 10 Minutes, No Coding
- The Hugging Face hack is worse than you think
Reference
Sources
The chart is the Next Big Pulse: every source with a weekly or monthly reading for AI agent, blended into one line of overall interest. A trend counts only when independent sources confirm the rise, each read against what every other search we track did there.
- Google web search47%since Sep 2021
- DataForSEO Trends16%since Oct 2021
- Wikipedia views14%since Mar 2024
- YouTube search9%since Apr 2023
- Bing searches9%since Sep 2024
- Web mentions3%since Oct 2022
- Google News search1%since Nov 2024
Confidence: high, three or more steady sources carry the line lately. How the grade works
| Source | Rose with it | This search, in a year | The typical search there |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bing searches | Rose | More than for the typical search there. Named, not quoted: its licence. | |
| Wikipedia views | Rose | +4,234%99 → 4,275 views a week | -22%the typical search there |
| Bluesky posts | Rose | +158%weekly average, on the year before | +21%the typical search there |
| Hacker News mentions | Rose | +172%weekly average, on the year before | +15%the typical search there |
| Research papers | Rose | +324%1,260 → 5,344 papers a year | +31%the typical search there |
| New York Times articles | Rose | More than for the typical search there. Named, not quoted: its licence. | |
Google web search on its own: +248% in a year.
Searches a month, cost per click and ranking difficulty are Google Ads keyword estimates for the US.
The same search on Google Trends · How we read every source
Projections are Next Big's forecasts from public search data. They aren't financial, investment, trading or medical advice.
Questions
Is AI agent still popular in 2026?
Yes. Overall interest in AI agent is up +240% on a year ago, and +5% over the last three months.
How many people search for AI agent?
About 50,000 searches a month in the US, an estimate. It's searched most, for its size, in Wyoming.
When do searches for AI agent peak?
It doesn't follow a season. Its busiest week in five years was in September 2026.
Will AI agent keep growing?
Next Big's projection gives a 8 in 10 chance it's higher in six months, likely between -11% and +50%. Over 12 months its middle is +17%. It's a forecast from public search data, not advice.
What's rising alongside AI agent?
The searches rising fastest with it are openclaw, openclaw ai agent and medvi: often the next wave inside a trend.
More trending in AI
All trending nowGet the week's trending searches, first
Every Monday, the searches still climbing and where each is heading. Join the waitlist: we open Next Big to a few people at a time.