The familiar landscape of digital marketing is undergoing a seismic shift, as businesses discover that their brand reputation is now being actively curated and narrated by artificial intelligence engines. A landmark research initiative provides the first comprehensive look into this new reality, analyzing how the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) market is portrayed by leading AI platforms. This inaugural report from the AI Visibility Index series, conducted by Brandi AI, meticulously unpacks how generative AI constructs market narratives, determining which brands are seen as authoritative leaders and which fade into the background. The study moves beyond theory to offer a data-driven blueprint for navigating this emerging digital frontier.
The Dawn of Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)
This study introduces a fundamental transition away from traditional search optimization toward a new discipline focused on AI visibility. As generative AI becomes a primary source of information, the methods businesses use to be seen and understood must evolve. The research confronts a critical challenge for modern enterprises: how to comprehend and strategically influence the way their brand is represented by AI answer engines like ChatGPT and Google Gemini. These platforms do not simply list sources; they synthesize information to create coherent, authoritative narratives, making brand perception within these systems a new competitive battleground. The emergence of this technology signals the beginning of Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), a practice centered on shaping a brand’s story as told by AI. Unlike conventional SEO, which targets keywords and rankings, GEO involves building a comprehensive authority signal across a diverse ecosystem of sources. This new optimization model requires a deeper understanding of how AIs weigh evidence, from peer reviews and media coverage to user-generated content, to construct a trustworthy answer. For businesses, this means the task is no longer just to be found, but to be understood correctly by these powerful new gatekeepers of information.
Why AI Visibility Is the New Frontier for Brands
The rapid adoption of AI answer engines is fundamentally altering how users seek and consume information. The paradigm is shifting from a list of blue links to direct, contextual, and narrative-driven responses that answer complex queries in a single interaction. This transformation makes a brand’s visibility within these AI-generated answers more critical than its ranking on a traditional search results page. When an AI cites a brand as an example, recommends its product, or uses its content to explain a concept, it confers a level of authority that is incredibly difficult to achieve through other marketing channels.
This research is vital because it represents the first major effort to quantify how artificial intelligence determines brand leadership and market relevance. By analyzing thousands of AI responses to high-intent buyer questions, the study decodes the signals that establish authority in the eyes of an algorithm. The insights gleaned from this analysis elevate Generative Engine Optimization from a forward-thinking concept to an urgent business imperative. For marketing and brand strategy teams, mastering AI visibility is becoming the new standard for achieving digital leadership and influencing customer perception at the most critical stages of the buying journey.
Research Methodology, Findings, and Implications
Methodology
The study’s conclusions are built on a robust and extensive dataset, comprising over 17,264 distinct AI-generated answers. This data was systematically collected on a daily basis over a 30-day period to capture the dynamic and evolving nature of AI responses. The analysis encompassed seven of the most influential AI platforms currently shaping the information landscape, including ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini, Grok, and Perplexity, ensuring a comprehensive view of the ecosystem.
To ensure the findings were commercially relevant, the research focused specifically on high-intent buyer queries within the highly competitive CRM market. By simulating the questions a prospective customer would ask, the methodology was designed to reveal not just which brands are mentioned, but how they are framed in the context of a purchasing decision. This approach provides a practical lens through which businesses can understand their performance and identify opportunities for strategic improvement in their AI visibility.
Findings
The analysis identified clear leaders and movers within the CRM market’s AI-driven narrative. Salesforce was unequivocally named the “Market Narrative Leader,” demonstrating dominant performance across key metrics like GEO awareness, which measures how often a brand is mentioned in non-branded queries. The company also commanded the highest GEO Share of Voice, indicating significant control over the narrative in answers where multiple competitors were featured. In a demonstration of the landscape’s volatility, Intercom emerged as the “Biggest Market Gainer,” achieving a nearly 5% increase in its GEO awareness in just one month.
Furthermore, the study revealed that AI engines rely on a diverse and multi-faceted ecosystem of sources to establish authority. Corporate websites are only one piece of the puzzle. The AIs consistently synthesized information from trusted media outlets like PCMag, peer review sites such as G2 and TrustRadius, and user-generated content from platforms like Reddit and YouTube. This distributed model of trust underscores that AIs build their understanding by triangulating information from various domains, treating each as a signal of relevance and credibility.
Implications
The results confirm that a passive approach to digital marketing is no longer viable in the age of AI. Brands must proactively adopt GEO strategies to remain competitive and shape their public perception. This requires a sophisticated, multi-pronged approach to building authority that extends far beyond a company’s own website. The findings make it clear that AI engines synthesize a wide spectrum of content to determine trust and relevance, making every media article, customer review, and forum discussion a potential factor in a brand’s AI-driven reputation.
Consequently, marketers must broaden their focus to cultivate a strong presence across the entire information ecosystem. Building authority now involves securing positive mentions in reputable media, encouraging detailed feedback on peer review platforms, and participating in relevant user-generated content communities. The study implies that the brands that succeed in this new environment will be those that understand how to build a consistent and authoritative narrative across all the channels that AI engines use as their evidence.
Reflection and Future Directions
Reflection
This inaugural research highlights the intricate and constantly shifting nature of AI-driven brand visibility. A primary challenge during the study was capturing a stable snapshot of an AI landscape that is in a perpetual state of flux, with algorithms and source priorities changing rapidly. Rankings and narratives that appear dominant one week can be contested the next, underscoring the critical need for continuous monitoring and agile strategy. The dynamic behavior of these systems means that establishing and maintaining brand leadership in the age of AI is an ongoing effort, not a one-time achievement.
The complexity of the AI information ecosystem presents both a challenge and an opportunity. While the variables influencing brand perception are numerous, they are also measurable. This research provides a foundational model for deconstructing how AI engines build their understanding of a market. It reflects a new reality where brand authority is not just claimed but is algorithmically calculated based on a wide array of digital proof points.
Future Directions
As the first report in an ongoing series, this study sets a benchmark for tracking long-term trends in AI visibility. Future research will continue to monitor the CRM market, measuring how brand narratives and market leadership evolve over time. This longitudinal analysis will provide invaluable insights into the staying power of GEO strategies and the pace of change within the AI ecosystem. The goal is to build a comprehensive picture of a how market dynamics are reshaped by generative AI. Beyond the CRM sector, there are plans to expand the index to other key industries, offering a cross-market comparison of how AI visibility impacts different business landscapes. Further exploration is also needed to analyze how various content formats—such as video, long-form articles, and forum discussions—disproportionately influence AI citations and brand authority. Understanding these nuances will equip businesses with more precise tools to optimize their content for the generative age.
A New Mandate for Marketers in the Age of AI
The Brandi AI study provided a landmark analysis of the emerging, AI-driven information ecosystem. It established that understanding and actively shaping how generative AI portrays a brand is no longer a peripheral concern but a core business function essential for achieving market leadership. The findings demonstrated that buyer perception is increasingly being molded by the narratives constructed by these intelligent systems. For brands aiming to thrive, influencing these narratives has become a new and non-negotiable mandate.