WHITO GLOSSARY · MEASURED DEFINITIONS
An AI engine naming a specific business in answer to a buying question. They need checking: 38 of 728 UK businesses named by Google AI Mode, 5.2%, could not be verified as active companies trading in the town named.
The number: AI-Recommended Businesses Unverifiable.
What it means in practice
An AI recommendation reads like a verdict and is really a guess assembled from whatever the engine could read. Some of the businesses it names no longer exist.
If you are the buyer, check the name against a register before you call. If you are the business, make yourself checkable: active filings, a readable site, consistent details.
Whito stage: Any stage. Use it before you sign anything.
The numbers to hold onto
- 38 of 728 businesses named by Google AI Mode could not be verified as active companies trading in the town named. AI-Recommended Businesses Unverifiable.
- 7 of 16 dissolved firms were named again on a repeat ask. Dissolved Companies Still Recommended by AI.
- Engines agreed on the best tradesperson in 1 of 12 identical questions. How Accurate Are AI Business Recommendations.
Where to go next
- The unverifiable-recommendations study
- How accurate AI recommendations are
- Check your own AI visibility
Related: llms.txt, Structured data, AI recommendation audit