Negligible participation in the scientific literature of AI unicorn startups

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) development is concentrated within private firms, yet their participation in scientific publishing remains poorly understood. We conducted a bibliometric analysis of all 317 AI unicorn startups (1998-2025). Only 1,389 eligible peer-reviewed publications and 688 preprints involving some leading startup contributions were identified. More than half of startups (52.4%) produced no qualifying scientific output, and only 24 firms (7.6%) produced any highly cited papers ([≥]200 citations). Scientific influence was highly concentrated: the top 10% of firms accounted for 96.8% of citations, while three startups accounted for 92 of 134 firm-attributed highly cited papers. Firm valuation was not associated with publication productivity or highly cited output, whereas funding raised showed weak associations. Overall, participation in formal scientific communication among AI unicorn startups is negligible, comprising only 0.1% of the overall AI literature in 2025. Most leading developers of AI technology do not engage with the scientific literature, raising concerns for the transparency, reproducibility, and accountability of this rapidly moving innovation frontier.