Hacker News Insights research
Hacker News in 2023
The strongest tracked Hacker News title themes in 2023, with annual shares and historical context.
Data through 2026-07-13
This page ranks the tracked topics by their share of retained Hacker News story titles in 2023. It is a full calendar year; topic patterns can overlap and the list is not a taxonomy of every story.
| Rank | Topic | Category | Title share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AI / LLM | AI | 9.308% |
| 2 | Open source | Meta | 1.296% |
| 3 | Security | Crypto & privacy | 0.958% |
| 4 | Startups | Meta | 0.829% |
| 5 | Linux | Infra | 0.770% |
| 6 | Python | Languages | 0.740% |
| 7 | Rust | Languages | 0.734% |
| 8 | Bitcoin / crypto | Crypto & privacy | 0.633% |
| 9 | Privacy | Crypto & privacy | 0.471% |
| 10 | JavaScript | Languages | 0.389% |
| 11 | Postgres | Data | 0.337% |
| 12 | Image gen | AI | 0.297% |
Context markers
- 2023-01 — Mass tech layoffs: Google/Microsoft/Amazon announce ~tens of thousands of cuts 2023-01.
- 2023-03 — GPT-4: OpenAI releases GPT-4 2023-03-14.
- 2023-03 — Silicon Valley Bank fails: SVB collapses 2023-03-10 — startup banking panic.
- 2023-06 — Reddit API revolt: Reddit's API pricing sparks a 2023-06 moderator blackout.
- 2023-07 — Llama 2 open weights: Meta releases Llama 2 with a commercial license 2023-07.
- 2023-11 — OpenAI board crisis: Altman fired then reinstated over ~5 days, 2023-11.
Method
Every percentage uses that year's retained story-title count as its denominator. Visit the Attention Lab for 2023 or read the methodology.