active · construct · first recorded 2026-07-02 · registers: hn, parenting
Gravitas by decree: “what matters is…”, “it matters because…”. 6× the human rate and rising across model generations.
◑ appears in good human writing too (collateral score 0.24 — the closer to 1, the more it also fires on acclaimed pre-AI prose)
…For nonstick pans, this matters less…
…Temperature matters. If your kitchen is very warm…
occurrences per 10k words, measured 2026-09-28 (run #15, 3 current + 3 vintage models)
| current AI | vintage AI (2024/25) | humans (matched) | canon (great pre-AI prose) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| pooled | 2.02 | 0.55 | 0.00 | 0.48 |
| hn | 0.40 | — | 0.00 | |
| cooking | 1.25 | — | 0.00 | |
| parenting | 4.49 | — | 0.00 | |
| 2.33 | — | — |
| run | date | AI /10k | vs humans |
|---|---|---|---|
| #2 | 2026-07-02 | 1.67 | ×7.5 vs humans |
| #3 | 2026-07-02 | 1.17 | ×9.7 vs humans |
| #4 | 2026-07-06 | 1.10 | ×9.3 vs humans |
| #5 | 2026-07-13 | 1.25 | ×3.3 vs humans |
| #6 | 2026-07-20 | 1.47 | ×6.6 vs humans |
| #7 | 2026-07-27 | 1.09 | ×4.6 vs humans |
| #8 | 2026-08-03 | 0.93 | ×7.5 vs humans |
| #9 | 2026-08-10 | 1.29 | ×3.4 vs humans |
| #10 | 2026-08-17 | 1.47 | ×13 vs humans |
| #11 | 2026-08-31 | 1.00 | ×4.1 vs humans |
| #12 | 2026-09-07 | 1.66 | ×6.8 vs humans |
| #13 | 2026-09-14 | 1.71 | ×5.0 vs humans |
| #14 | 2026-09-21 | 1.49 | ×6.4 vs humans |
| #15 | 2026-09-28 | 2.02 | only in AI |
regex: \b(what (actually |really )?matters|it matters)\b