SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- When someone asks ChatGPT or Perplexity to recommend a product, which brands does AI mention? A new study from Erlin shows a concentration pattern: the same brands appear repeatedly in AI answers, while most brands appear rarely or not at all.

People who find brands through AI are 3-6x more likely to buy compared to regular Google search. Yet only 15% of brands get more than 80% of these high-converting recommendations.

Erlin tracked 500 brands for six months across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity. The study found a 9× visibility gap between brands that optimize for AI visibility and those that do not.

AI recommendation is emerging as a measurable performance layer separate from traditional SEO.

The way consumers search is shifting from Google to AI.

By 2028, AI will handle 75% of all Google searches, according to McKinsey research. That means $750 billion in US revenue will flow through AI recommendations instead of traditional search results.

You can be #1 on Google and completely invisible in ChatGPT. Being good at Google SEO doesn't mean AI will recommend you. AI systems use different signals than traditional search engines.

What makes AI recommend one brand over another?

The report found that AI evaluates fragments of information and assigns confidence to what it can verify.

Erlin studied 500 brands for six months and found five structural signals that consistently influence whether a brand is recommended:

• Clear, specific facts instead of vague claims
• Independent mentions from third-party sources
• Website structure that AI can easily extract from
• Recently updated information
• Consistent brand details across platforms.

Most companies have no idea what AI says about them.

Erlin surveyed 200 marketing leaders:

• 67% do not know how to measure whether AI recommends their brand
• 58% say nobody internally owns AI visibility
• Only a small minority actively check what AI says about them

As more consumers use AI to compare products and make buying decisions, AI recommendation is becoming as important as Google ranking.

About the research

The 2026 State of AI Search report is based on:

• 500+ brands tracked across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity
• 15,000+ purchase-intent prompts tested
• 180 consecutive days of monitoring
• 200+ marketing leaders surveyed

The full report explains:

• How AI selects brands
• How the purchase journey is changing
• What structurally drives inclusion in AI answers

Download the complete report: https://www.erlin.ai/report/state-of-ai-search-2026

About Erlin

Erlin.ai is a multi-agent AI visibility platform that helps brands get discovered and cited across AI search engines including ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Perplexity. It tracks AI brand visibility, identifies optimization opportunities, and automates structured content workflows with human oversight.

Media Contact
Siddhesh Tiwatne
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409288@email4pr.com
www.erlin.ai 

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SOURCE Erlin.ai