The cure for an unverifiable AI claim is older and duller than the claim: a free search box pointed at what a company actually filed.

The paper argued on June 27 that the SEC has already named firms and penalties for overstating AI, turning "AI washing" from a meme into a described offense. The same enforcement system rests on a public tool, and the tool is the part X never opens. EDGAR's full-text search indexes filings across more than two decades and answers the question a thread cannot: who put the claim in a document where misstatements carry liability?

The numbers reward the search. A query for "artificial intelligence" in annual reports returns more than 10,000 filings — proof the term is everywhere, and therefore worth nothing on its own. [1] Narrow it to the marketing phrase "powered by artificial intelligence" and the field collapses to 108 annual reports. [3] The gap between those two counts is the whole story: nearly every issuer mentions AI, but only a handful stake the specific claim in a place where it can be tested against the risk factors.

The branding goes all the way to the ticker. EDGAR's submissions record identifies C3.ai, Inc. — a large accelerated filer in Redwood City trading under the symbol AI — with its annual and quarterly filings attached. [2] A company can literally be named AI and still has to say, under threat of liability, what the technology does and where it might fail. The pitch deck is free to dazzle; the 10-K is not.

This is the divergence the paper keeps. X is fast at detecting narrative acceleration and poor at distinguishing a financing term sheet from a logo. Mainstream business coverage celebrates the round, the chip supplier, the customer name. The public record asks the slower questions: does the issuer file, what did it say under liability, and does the AI language survive in the risk paragraph or live only in the slide? [1][2]

AI may remake chips, cloud, and software. It does not change the rule that a securities claim needs a named filer, a filed document, and language that still reads true after the stock has moved. The search is free, indifferent to hype, and one phrase away from telling a buyer whether the rocket has a 10-K. [3]

-- THEO KAPLAN, San Francisco