Recently, we have been inundated with reports about the revolutions brought about by AI. However, much of our knowledge about these ‘revolutions’ arises from media sensationalism and advertising clamor – from AI hype. Therefore, to understand the societal impacts of AI, we must first grapple with its hype and ask: What truly transpires in the ‘revolutions’ allegedly brought about by AI? What role does hype play in them? This paper addresses this need by offering a methodological framework for studying AI, a way to scrutinize AI hype while acknowledging its power. I begin by presenting the STATE typology of AI hype that differentiates between five distinct types of hype. I then offer six heuristics to identify and explore AI hype. Lastly, I argue that holistic empirical research can leverage the STATE typology and its heuristics into a robust methodological design for scrutinizing AI-driven phenomena and their hype.