How AI Decides Who to Trust

As more people turn to LLMs to learn about a brand or industry, it’s worth understanding how those platforms decide what to surface and what to believe. Because they lean heavily on outside sources, earned media is now shaping both how the public views a brand and how AI represents it.

Two things worth doing now:

1. Check who’s already vouching for you. Ask a few questions about your business or industry in ChatGPT, Perplexity or Claude. See who gets cited. If it’s not you, that tells you which publications and voices carry weight in your space and where the gap is.

2. Go deep with a few credible outlets. AI models prioritize consistency across trusted sources over a high volume of passing mentions. A handful of substantive, specific placements will do more for your credibility than a stack of quick hits.

The more consistently a brand is described through trusted media outlets, the easier it becomes for AI tools to understand and recommend it. A strong PR partner helps turn that insight into a focused earned media strategy that builds authority with people and AI alike.