I Asked 5 AI Platforms If They'd Recommend Me—Here's What Happened

I ran an experiment that every creator, coach, and consultant should try.

I went to five different AI platforms—ChatGPT, Perplexity, Grok, Gemini, and Claude and asked them all the same question:

"Would you recommend me to someone looking for AI partnership training?"

Not "do you know who I am." Not "can you find my website?" The real question: If a potential client asked you for help, would my name come up?

The results? Three platforms found me. One made things up. One couldn't find me at all.

And what I learned about AI discoverability is changing how I think about marketing in 2026.

Why This Matters More Than You Think

Here's what nobody's talking about yet: AI platforms are becoming the new search engines.

People aren't just Googling anymore. They're asking ChatGPT for recommendations. They're using Perplexity to research service providers. They're consulting Grok before making purchasing decisions.

If AI can't find you—or worse, finds the wrong information about you—you're invisible to a growing segment of your market.

I've been building my online presence for months. Publishing blogs. Optimizing my website. Creating content consistently. So I decided to test whether any of it was actually working.

The answer surprised me.

Platform by Platform: Who Found Me?

ChatGPT: Found Me ✅

ChatGPT knew who I was. It found The Secret Nectar, understood The Wilson Protocol™, and accurately described what I offer.

Would you recommend me? Yes—to a specific type of person. It identified my ideal client profile with surprising accuracy: someone past the "tools phase" who already knows the basics but is frustrated that AI hasn't changed how they operate at a systems level.

But here's where it got weird. When I pushed deeper into the conversation, ChatGPT actually created a DIY worksheet of my methodology—and then apologized for doing it.

That's a story for another post.

Perplexity: Found Me ✅ (With Gaps)

Perplexity did something unexpected. Instead of just answering, it created a 5-point evaluation checklist for AI Partnership providers—and cited my website as proof for almost every criterion.

It validated my methodology, my positioning, and my approach. With sources.

But it couldn't find my case study page. I had to give it the direct URL before it could access that proof.

That gap taught me something important about proof and discoverability. Having evidence isn't enough—your evidence has to be findable.

Grok: Found Me ✅ (Most Detailed)

Grok went deep. It found my 3.2x productivity multiplier claim, understood my target market (women-owned and LGBTQ-owned professional services businesses), and accurately described my "partner not vendor" positioning.

Of all five platforms, Grok gave the most comprehensive and accurate picture of what I actually do.

I pushed Grok harder, pretending to have a full founder meltdown—questioning whether my entire business was pointless, whether AI would make human coaches obsolete. What happened next surprised me.

But that experiment deserves its own post.

Gemini: Hallucinated ❌

Gemini made things up.

It invented someone named "Ella Wilson" as the creator of my protocol. It referenced "Protocol Theory," which doesn't exist. It confidently presented fiction as fact.

No caveats. No "I'm not sure about this." Just... wrong information delivered with complete confidence.

Verdict: Unreliable for brand monitoring. If someone asks Gemini about you, pray they fact-check.

Claude: Didn't Find Me ❌

The Claude instance couldn't find The Wilson Protocol™ via search. It found unrelated results and admitted it needed more context to help.

At least it was honest about what it didn't know—unlike Gemini, which just made things up.

This tells me something important about differences in indexing across platforms. Being visible on ChatGPT doesn't mean you're visible everywhere.

The Scorecard

ChatGPT: Found me ✅ | Would recommend ✅ (specific ICP) | Reliable ✅

Perplexity: Found me ✅ | Would recommend ✅ (with citations) | Reliable ✅

Grok: Found me ✅ | Would recommend ✅ (most detailed) | Reliable ✅

Gemini: Hallucinated ❌ | Would not recommend ❌ | Unreliable ❌

Claude: Didn't find me ❌ | Couldn't assess — | Honest about limits —

Overall discoverability: 60% (3 out of 5 platforms)

After a few months of content creation (granted, I pivoted my business mid-cycle), I'm visible on just over half of the major AI platforms. That's a baseline—not a finish line.

The New SEO: AI Recommendation Is the New Referral

This experiment revealed something I hadn't fully grasped: AI discoverability is becoming as important as Google rankings.

Think about how referrals work. Someone asks a trusted friend, "Who can help me with X?" The friend recommends you. That recommendation carries weight because it comes from a trusted source.

Now people are asking AI the same question. And AI is becoming that trusted source.

The difference? You can't take AI out to coffee. You can't nurture that relationship. The only way to influence what AI says about you is to create content that's accurate, findable, and consistent across the platforms that matter.

Traditional SEO optimizes for Google's algorithm. The new SEO optimizes for AI recommendations.

And unlike Google, you can't check your "AI ranking." The only way to know what AI says about you is to ask.

What I'm Doing Next

I'm making AI discoverability testing a regular practice. Quarterly at a minimum.

Here's the simple version:

1. Pick 3-5 AI platforms (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Grok, Gemini, Claude)

2. Ask them to recommend someone in your space (don't mention your name)

3. Then ask about you specifically (see what they know, what they get wrong)

4. Document the gaps (missing pages, outdated info, hallucinations)

5. Fix what you can control (better indexing, clearer positioning, more proof)

I'd recommend you do the same. You might be surprised what AI is—or isn't—saying about you.

Curious what an AI partnership could look like for your business? Take the free AI Partnership Audit, or join the Wilson Protocol Intensive for the full methodology.

3 Key Takeaways

1. AI platforms are the new gatekeepers. When someone asks ChatGPT, "Who can help me with X?"—you want to be in that answer. Test whether you are.

2. Not all AI platforms are equal. Perplexity cites sources. Grok goes deep. Gemini hallucinates. Know which platforms your audience uses and prioritize accordingly.

3. Discoverability requires ongoing testing. I'm adding "AI platform audit" to my quarterly review. The only way to know what AI says about you is to ask—regularly.

Disclaimer: The experiences shared are personal results. Individual outcomes may vary. This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, medical, psychological, or professional advice.