AI search news, explained for businesses
Engine changes, AI Overviews updates and our own research, each translated into what it means for your brand's visibility in AI answers and what to do about it.
Google AI Mode now offers Gemini 4 Argon to subscribers
Google began rolling out Gemini 4 Argon on 13 October to Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers in the Gemini app and in AI Mode in Search. Searchers without those plans are not offered it, so what AI Mode says about your business can now depend on who is asking and which model they picked.
Read →Claude's new rules ban faking the sources AI cites
Anthropic's updated Usage Policy, in force from 12 November 2026, bars using Claude to seed the sources search engines and AI systems draw answers from with content that misrepresents its origin, authorship or independence. What the rule covers, why AI answers about brands lean on outside pages, and what to check with your agency.
Read →ChatGPT is moving every user to GPT-6
OpenAI began moving paid ChatGPT users to GPT-6 Sol on 7 October and Free and Go users to GPT-6 Luna from 8 October, replacing the GPT-5.6 models. A reading of whether ChatGPT names your business taken before this week was taken on the models being replaced, so take a new one.
Read →Half of searches for big UK brands now show an AI Overview
We searched the names of 50 well-known UK brands on Google UK three times on 6 October 2026. Of the 150 searches, 78 showed an AI Overview, and 19 brands got one in some searches but not others, minutes apart. Wikipedia and Trustpilot were the outside sources Google cited most.
Read →Search Console now shows your AI Overview impressions
Since 31 August every site's Search Console has a report counting how often links to its pages appeared in AI Overviews and AI Mode, and a setting to opt out of both. The report counts links, not mentions, so it cannot tell you what Google's summary said about your brand.
Read →First on Google does not guarantee a mention in ChatGPT
Discoverable compared 1,000 buying questions across six consumer AI services, collecting 17,537 completed AI answers and 3,000 matching Google results captures. ChatGPT did not name the business at Google's first organic position in 72.5% of eligible answers.
Read →ChatGPT has stopped citing Reddit
Reddit's share of ChatGPT Search citations fell by about 86 per cent in the first half of August 2026, from roughly 3.8 per cent of cited links to 0.5 per cent. The cause has not been confirmed, and the lesson is about concentration risk rather than Reddit.
Read →ChatGPT ads in the UK: can you advertise your business on ChatGPT?
You can advertise your business on ChatGPT in the UK: OpenAI says ChatGPT Ads launched there in August 2026, alongside Mexico, Brazil, Japan and South Korea, and its Ads Manager is open for self-service to UK businesses. Ads are labelled as sponsored, and OpenAI says buying one does not change whether the answer names your business.
Read →AI shopping agents just won the right to browse Amazon
On 4 August a US appeals court ruled Amazon cannot use the main federal anti-hacking law to block Perplexity's Comet shopping agent, finding it is the user, not the AI firm, who accesses Amazon. Agentic commerce just got a clearer legal runway, which raises the stakes on being the brand an agent picks.
Read →Google puts image generation inside AI Overviews
Google announced on 14 July that AI Overviews will generate images from a text prompt rather than only surfacing photographs from real websites. A drawn image has no page behind it and nothing to click, which removes another route by which brand imagery reached searchers.
Read →Google's AI Mode Now Fills Shopping Carts: What It Means for Brand Visibility
Google's Connected Apps launch on 16 July lets AI Mode add groceries to an Instacart cart and act inside Canva and YouTube Music without leaving search. Brands now compete to be named in answers that act, not just inform.
Read →We asked AI about 30 brands. 27 were described wrongly
Our July 2026 test asked an AI assistant about 30 real brands, first from memory and then with live web search. From memory, 27 of 30 were described with at least one materially false claim. Live search cut that to 13. Here is the method, the results and what brands can do.
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