By businessmole.com
Publication Date: 2026-08-20 11:06:00
New Study Reveals AI Assistants’ Inconsistencies in Recommending UK Businesses – ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini Cited 104 Different Sources Across Just 30 Answers
Thursday, August 20, 2026
MANCHESTER, UNITED KINGDOM – A recent study conducted by Manchester-based AI visibility agency The Happy Cat has shed light on the discrepancies among AI assistants when it comes to recommending UK businesses. The study, which logged the first answers from ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini to ten fixed buyer questions, found that the three assistants cited a total of 104 different web sources across just 30 answers. Only eleven sources were cited more than once, and only three businesses were recommended by all three assistants.
The study, conducted on August 19-20, 2026, aimed to simulate real-life scenarios where buyers ask AI assistants for recommendations. It included questions such as “best AI visibility agency UK” and “AI SEO agency Manchester.” The Happy Cat recorded the first answer verbatim from each assistant and published the responses, along with screenshots.
The study’s main finding was that each AI assistant chooses recommendations in a unique manner. ChatGPT mainly recommended businesses from their own websites, with every source cited carrying a tracking tag labeled “utm_source=chatgpt.com.” This suggests that ChatGPT relies heavily on its own referral traffic and may not recommend businesses whose websites block AI crawlers or do not provide…