The Artificial Intelligence Narrative: A Data-Driven Analysis of News Trends, Sentiment, and Media Framing

With the advent of powerful generative AI (GAI), the media attention on artificial intelligence (AI) has surged in recent years. This study provides a data-driven analysis of AI news coverage in the timeframe that starts from August 2024 to July 2025. By examining 20581 news headlines, the trends in the coverage, such as volume, sentiment, sources, entities, themes, and framing along the temporal and valence dimensions, were captured. The results showed a hike in the coverage in October 2024 and January 2025 related to major AI developments, with a gradual decline in the mid 2025s. Sentiment analysis showed a domination of neutral to positive tone in coverage, where the positive sentiment accounts for 18.3% when compared to 5.1% of negative sentiment, which indicates an optimistic bias. Entity-level analysis showed the media narrative’s focus on key organizations such as Nvidia, Google, OpenAI, and public figures such as tech CEOs and even unexpected political figures. Furthermore, five broad dominant themes were identified using topic modelling: (1) AI Future and Societal Change, (2) AI in Healthcare and Business, (3) AI in Education, Research, and Governance, (4) AI in Stocks and Investment, (5) AI Market Growth and Forecasts. Framing analysis revealed that nearly two-thirds of the coverage pertains to neutral tone on both temporal and valence dimensions. Strongly framed headlines leaned firmly towards opportunities rather than risk. Findings indicate the trajectory of coverage from highlighting the hype to a balanced narrative, recognizing the immediate implications and emerging concerns. Overall, this study provides empirical insight into how the media narrated AI, especially during the period marked by the post-ChatGPT technology hype.