# The Hype Index

> The Hype Index scores the technology and business claims that reach the boardroom. Every claim gets a verdict, a published methodology score, a dated call, and a permanent record that is revisited and marked right or wrong. Published Tuesday and Thursday.

Published by Boldly Reimagined. Boldly Reimagined helps leaders rethink what is possible at the intersection of AI, cybersecurity, and business strategy.
Tuesdays and Thursdays at 1:00 PM Central, starting the week of July 28.

## How scoring works
The Hype Index runs 0 to 100. Higher means more distance between what the evidence
supports and how the claim is used. It sums five components worth 20 points each.
- Source quality. Peer reviewed, preprint, self-published report, vendor material, or press release.
- Sample and method. Sample size, how subjects were selected, and whether the underlying data is available.
- Independence. Does the publisher sell the solution its own finding recommends.
- Replication. Has anyone independently reproduced it with a comparable method.
- Drift. How far the popular use of the claim sits from what the source actually says.

## Verdicts
- Underrated. The evidence is stronger than the attention it gets.
- Holds Up. The claim survives contact with its own source.
- Half True. Real finding, wrong scope. Correct in part, misapplied in practice.
- Overstated. Sound evidence, carried far past what it actually measured.
- Unsupported. No source that survives inspection.

## The record
- Edition 003 (July 30, 2026). Claim: "Security keys stop 100% of phishing." Verdict: Holds Up. Hype Index: 37/100. The evidence is unusually strong. The word doing the work is exclusively, and almost nobody repeats it. Source: New research: How effective is basic account hygiene at preventing hijacking, Google Security Blog, reporting research with New York University and the University of California, San Diego, May 17, 2019. Call logged July 30, 2026, resolves July 2027. https://thehypeindex.com/edition/003-security-keys-stop-100-percent-of-phishing/
- Edition 002 (July 28, 2026). Claim: "There are 4.8 million unfilled cybersecurity jobs worldwide." Verdict: Overstated. Hype Index: 73/100. It is a survey of what organizations say they want, not a count of jobs anyone is hiring for. Source: The State of the Cybersecurity Workforce, reporting the 2024 Cybersecurity Workforce Study, ISC2, October 23, 2024. Call logged July 28, 2026, resolves July 2027. https://thehypeindex.com/edition/002-48-million-unfilled-cybersecurity-jobs/
- Edition 001 (July 26, 2026). Claim: "95% of enterprise AI pilots fail." Verdict: Overstated. Hype Index: 74/100. The research is real. The number is real. What people do with it is not. Source: The GenAI Divide: State of AI in Business 2025, MIT Project NANDA, July 2025. Call logged July 26, 2026, resolves July 2027. https://thehypeindex.com/edition/001-95-percent-of-enterprise-ai-pilots-fail/

## Archive
The Hype Index is the continuation of two earlier publications, Hype Check Now and
Hype Check Live. Their complete back catalogue, 226 editions published between
2023-03-15 and 2026-07-24, is listed at https://thehypeindex.com/archive/.
Nothing was removed in the move. hypechecknow.com and hypechecklive.com now redirect here.

## Topic pages
- https://thehypeindex.com/ai-hype-newsletter/ AI hype newsletter | claims scored 0 to 100. The Hype Index scores one AI claim every Tuesday and Thursday on source quality, method, independence, replication, and drift. Verdicts and dated calls are published in full.
- https://thehypeindex.com/no-hype-ai-newsletter/ No-hype AI newsletter | every number traced to its source. No breathless framing, no vendor talking points, no unsourced numbers. Every figure in The Hype Index traces to a primary source, and every call carries a resolution date.
- https://thehypeindex.com/cybersecurity-newsletter-for-leaders/ Cybersecurity newsletter for leaders | vendor claims scored. Breach cost figures, skills-gap numbers, and threat statistics are scored on source quality, method, independence, replication, and drift. Twice a week.
- https://thehypeindex.com/newsletter-for-cisos/ Newsletter for CISOs | defend the numbers in your board deck. Written for security leaders who get asked where a statistic came from. Every claim scored, every source named, every call dated.
- https://thehypeindex.com/newsletter-for-cios/ Newsletter for CIOs | technology claims scored before you buy. Adoption rates, productivity multipliers, and platform benchmarks scored on source quality, method, independence, replication, and drift. Tuesday and Thursday.
- https://thehypeindex.com/newsletter-for-boards/ Newsletter for boards | the questions to ask about a statistic. Board-level scrutiny of the statistics behind technology and risk spending. One claim scored per edition, with the method published in full.
- https://thehypeindex.com/fact-check-newsletter/ Fact-check newsletter | scoring how far a claim has drifted. Conventional fact checking asks whether a claim is true. The Hype Index also scores how far its popular use has drifted from what the source actually measured.
- https://thehypeindex.com/how-to-spot-hype/ How to spot hype | five questions that expose a weak claim. The five components used to score every claim, written as questions you can apply yourself to any statistic that lands in a meeting.
- https://thehypeindex.com/hype-vs-reality/ Hype vs reality | every claim scored 0 to 100. A 0 to 100 index measuring the gap between what the evidence supports and how a claim is being used, published with the reasoning behind every point.
- https://thehypeindex.com/business-and-money-claims/ Business and investing hype check | claims scored twice a week. Market projections, investing claims, and business statistics scored on source quality, method, independence, replication, and drift.
- https://thehypeindex.com/science-and-health-claims/ Science and health hype check | claims traced to the study. Health and science claims scored against the actual paper: sample size, method, independence, and whether anyone has replicated it.
- https://thehypeindex.com/culture-and-sports-claims/ Culture and sports hype check | the numbers behind the narrative. Audience figures, performance statistics, and cultural trend claims scored with the same five components used on technology and business claims.

## Pages
- https://thehypeindex.com/ The record
- https://thehypeindex.com/record/ Every scored claim
- https://thehypeindex.com/archive/ 226 past editions of Hype Check Now and Hype Check Live
- https://thehypeindex.com/method/ Scoring methodology
- https://thehypeindex.com/about/ Why this exists
- https://thehypeindex.com/privacy/ Privacy