Have you heard of the AI shelf?
I hadn't, but after discovering Deana Burke's brilliant explainers, I was concerned.
Think of an AI shelf the same as a supermarket shelf. There's a shortlist of brands stocked that you reach for. That's the same behaviour AI exhibits to answer your query.
So that's great, right? We just need to get our products and services on the shelf. Well, not really.
Her research shows that 60% of high credibility news sites (including consumer reports) block AI crawlers. Which means that when you read your AI answer - presented as fact - it's from a very small window of the internet.
Worrying. And that's not all. Research analysing 26,000 citations found that 1 in 6 were written by AI. So that's AI, cloning AI generated content, designed to be picked up by AI. Eek.
On top of that, there's something called "post-hoc citation," where AI writes the answer first, then seeks sources, rather than the other way around. (Side note: this is why citation lists often include random, niche links.)
So, what do we do? Day-to-day, it's as simple as clicking the reference links. Check them, read them, challenge your chosen AI to dig deeper.
For communication pros, to get your product or services referenced and trusted, it echoes the advice in Woodrow's own Influence Economy report. Influence = visibility. Trust = expertise. You need to marry the two: be where your audiences are, at the right volume and consistency, and back it with real experts. Create content AI crawlers can find and access, and have it shared by your expert spokespeople (think op-eds, blogs, thought leadership, Reddit etc).
At Woodrow, we've built tools, developed by myself and my brilliant colleagues Connor and Sasha, to measure, track and analyse how and why our clients can be seen and, crucially, trusted. You can chat to any of us if you’d like to understand how, why and where your brand is currently performing.
But if you're in brand, marketing or comms, I’d recommend following Deana. She's making it her mission to make everyone AI literate, which I love and think is so important. And her explainers are short and easy to follow and she’s got a newsletter, too.
So, what do you think? Is the AI shelf cause for concern, or do we think this will eventually right itself as we all become a little more AI savvy?
