HOW IT WORKS

We ask. Then we ask again…
And again… and… again.

Imagine asking three different groups of people to name the leading experts in an industry. Some names might be mentioned once. Others would come up repeatedly, regardless of who you asked.

That's essentially what we do with AI.

We ask ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini to identify leading experts across a range of UK industries and subjects. But we don't just ask each AI once. We repeat the exercise multiple times, collecting dozens of independent answers for every category. Why? Because AI doesn't always give the same answer twice.

By repeating the research, we can identify the people who are consistently recognised, rather than those who happen to appear in a single response.

Put simply…

1. Ask

Three AI platforms, multiple times

2. Check

Count names and verify affiliations

3. Rank

Reveal the experts and organisations AI recognises

Then the complex part…

Expert Authority - FAQs

  • Expert Authority measures how consistently someone is recognised as an expert by leading AI platforms.

    The Experts Index asks ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini to identify leading experts across different UK industries and subjects. We repeat the research multiple times to discover which names keep coming up.

    The Expert Authority leaderboard shows the people AI most consistently recognises in each category.

  • Think of it like asking a room full of people to name the leading experts in an industry.

    Some names might be mentioned once. Others would come up again and again.

    We do something similar with AI, collecting multiple independent answers from ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini.

    We then measure how frequently each expert appears in those answers. The more consistently someone is named, the higher their AI Recognition.

    We also look at how prominently experts appear in the lists.

  • AI Recognition is the percentage of answers in which an expert is named.

    For example, an AI Recognition score of 80% means the expert appeared in eight out of every ten answers collected during our research.

    It's a measure of how consistently AI recognises someone as an expert, not a rating of their actual professional ability.

  • Some experts are recognised more consistently across the AI platforms we test.

    An individual who appears repeatedly in answers from ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini will generally rank more highly than someone mentioned only occasionally.

    We also record where experts appear within the answers, helping distinguish people who are regularly named near the top from those mentioned further down.

  • Not necessarily.

    Someone can be exceptionally knowledgeable without being widely recognised by AI. Equally, someone with a strong public profile may appear frequently in AI-generated answers.

    The Experts Index measures recognition, not qualifications, competence or the quality of someone's advice.

    It's a way to understand who AI identifies as an authority, rather than a judgement of who deserves to be one.

  • Yes, although there's no guaranteed way to make AI recommend a particular person.

    Building a credible public profile, contributing genuine expertise, earning relevant media coverage and making specialist knowledge accessible online can all help establish someone's reputation.

  • Each leaderboard is a snapshot of AI recognition at the time the research was carried out (September/October 2026)

    AI platforms change, experts develop their profiles and new voices emerge. Rankings may therefore change when a category is researched again.

    If you want a more recent snapshot then get in touch and we’ll run tailored results for you.

Brand Authority - FAQs

  • Brand Authority measures how strongly an organisation is represented by the experts AI recognises.

    Rather than simply asking whether AI knows a company, we look at whether it knows the people associated with that company.

    For example, a business with several recognised industry experts may have a stronger presence in our research than one represented by a single spokesperson.

    The Brand Authority leaderboard brings those individual appearances together to show which organisations are most strongly associated with AI-recognised expertise.

  • We start with the experts identified during our research.

    We then bring together their appearances across ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini to see which organisations have the greatest representation.

    An organisation can benefit from having several recognised experts, one particularly prominent individual, or a combination of both.

  • Think of it like Share of Voice, but for recognised experts.

    In PR, Share of Voice compares how much of the conversation a brand occupies relative to its competitors.

    Share of Expertise measures how much of the AI-recognised expertise in a category is associated with an organisation.

    For example, if people associated with a business account for 15% of the expert appearances recorded across a category, its Share of Expertise is 15%.

    It gives organisations a way to compare their representation against others in their industry.

  • Expert Authority looks at individuals. Brand Authority looks at organisations.

    Expert Authority tells us which people AI most consistently names as leading experts.

    Brand Authority connects those people to their organisations, showing which businesses benefit from having recognised experts associated with them.

    A business doesn't necessarily need the number-one expert to lead the Brand Authority leaderboard. Several consistently recognised people can contribute to a strong overall position.

  • This is the number of different individuals associated with an organisation who were identified during our research.

    For example, an organisation with five recognised experts has five distinct people contributing to its Brand Authority results.

    It's different from the total number of appearances, because the same expert may be named repeatedly across multiple AI answers.

  • AI can associate experts with organisations from different stages of their careers.

    Our research recognises genuine professional affiliations, including historical relationships.

    As a result, Brand Authority reflects recognition associated with an organisation, rather than an exclusively current employee roster.

    An organisation's position should not be interpreted as a ranking of its present-day workforce.

  • No. That's an important distinction.

    Brand Authority measures recognition through people.

    An organisation may be frequently recommended by AI as a product or service provider without having many named experts in our research.

    Equally, a business may have highly recognised experts without being frequently recommended to consumers.

    The two types of visibility can be related, but they're not the same thing.

  • Brand Authority is built on the recognition of people.

    Organisations can invest in developing credible spokespeople, sharing specialist knowledge, contributing to industry discussions and creating opportunities for their experts to be recognised publicly.

    Having several knowledgeable, visible individuals may also help reduce reliance on a single prominent spokesperson.

    There is no guaranteed formula for influencing AI responses, but building genuine, visible expertise is a sensible long-term approach.

  • The public leaderboard displays the leading organisations identified through our research.

    An organisation might not appear because its associated experts weren't named frequently enough to reach the displayed rankings (limited to top 20), or because we couldn't establish a reliable affiliation.

    Its absence doesn't mean the organisation lacks expertise or authority in the real world.

  • No.

    Brand reputation includes factors such as customer experience, trust, product quality and public perception.

    Brand Authority in The Experts Index focuses specifically on the recognition of people associated with an organisation by the AI platforms we test.

    It's one indicator of how a business is represented through its expertise, not a complete measure of its reputation.