"AI-powered" is the most abused phrase in corporate America. Some companies rebuilt their product around machine learning. Others added a chatbot to the settings page and called it a strategy. Here is how to tell which is which.
Start with the filings. A real AI company talks about AI in specific terms: models, training data, inference costs, R&D headcount. A faker talks in adjectives.
- SEC EDGAR full-text search - compare AI mentions across two 10-Ks; a jump from 2 to 40 mentions with no R&D increase is a red flag.
- Quartr - search earnings-call transcripts for AI claims and check whether analysts press management on specifics.
- FinChat - check R&D spend and segment data; real AI investment shows up in the numbers.
- TrueAI - AI-wash scores for 499 S&P 500 companies from their latest 10-Ks, free to browse at gptticker.com.
- Atom Finance - full-text filing search with alerts when a company's 10-K language changes year to year.
- AlphaSense - AI search across filings and transcripts, pulling every AI claim a company has made into one view.
- Fintel - check whether insiders and institutions are buying the AI story or quietly selling into it.
Vague AI talk plus flat R&D is the oldest tell.