Do AI assistants get facts about businesses wrong?
They can, and it is worth checking. In a 2025 study coordinated by the European Broadcasting Union and led by the BBC, "45% of all AI answers had at least one significant issue." That study tested questions about news, not businesses, so it does not measure errors about businesses directly. It does show that assistants can state wrong or outdated details, which is a good reason to check what they say about you.
What the study found
Journalists from 22 public service media organizations in 18 countries, working in 14 languages, evaluated more than 3,000 responses from ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini and Perplexity. The European Broadcasting Union published the results on October 22, 2025.
The main numbers
- 45% of answers had at least one significant issue.
- 31% had serious sourcing problems: missing, misleading or incorrect attributions.
- 20% had major accuracy issues, including made-up details and outdated information.
- Gemini performed worst, with significant issues in 76% of its responses.
What it does and does not tell an owner
The study is about news. It did not test questions about local businesses, such as hours, services or service areas, so its numbers should not be read as error rates for business facts.
The kinds of mistakes it found still matter to a business. Outdated information, invented details and wrong attributions are exactly how an assistant could give a customer an old phone number, a service you stopped offering or a location you closed.
How to check what assistants say about you
Ask a few assistants the questions a customer would ask, write down anything wrong, and repeat it every few months. The related answer on checking what ChatGPT says about your business sets out the full check.
What you can correct
You cannot edit an assistant's answer. What you control is your own information. Make sure your website states the facts plainly and currently: what you do, where you work, your hours, how to reach you and what you do not offer.
If an assistant points to another site that has your details wrong, ask that site to fix them. If an assistant offers a feedback option, use it, but it is not a fix on its own. BrightLocal's 2026 consumer survey gives owners similar advice: "Monitor how your business appears in AI-generated recommendations and summaries."
Sources
- European Broadcasting Union, "Largest study of its kind shows AI assistants misrepresent news content 45% of the time – regardless of language or territory" (October 22, 2025)
- BrightLocal, "Local Consumer Review Survey 2026" (February 11, 2026)
Related answers
- How do you check what ChatGPT says about your business?
- How many people use AI assistants like ChatGPT?
- What is GEO (generative engine optimization)?
GEO: recommended in AI answers
When a customer asks ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google's AI who to call, the answer names a few businesses. GEO is the work of making yours one of them.