Proprietary study · 2026 edition

AI Barometer 2026: which brands AIs actually cite.

The first European barometer of brand visibility in ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity. 1,870 citations analysed, 718 companies, 5 sectors — ranked by the KVS score.

1,870
citations analysed
718
companies ranked
145
calibrated prompts
3
AIs: ChatGPT · Gemini · Perplexity
5
sectors analysed
KAIS Barometer · 2026 edition

Being cited is the new SEO. Here's who's winning the war.

When a decision-maker asks an AI "what are the best solutions in my sector?", three engines — ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity — shape the answer. We queried these three AIs across 145 prompts, extracted 1,870 citations across 718 companies and 5 sectors, then computed a proprietary score: the KVS.

01

Mistral, Doctolib and Revolut dominate

Three companies reach a KVS of 100/100 in their sector. The common factor: perfect coverage across all three AIs, not just one.

02

83% of the top 30 is European

Unlike SEO, where US giants crush the rankings, AIs mostly cite European players on European queries.

03

A single AI caps you at 40 points

Multi-AI coverage is the most discriminating factor. 91% of the top 40 is cited by all three models at once — the new standard.

04

Paris leads SaaS, London leads fintech

Paris holds 40% of SaaS leaders (Mistral, Doctolib, Contentsquare, Dataiku). London polarises fintech (Revolut, Wise, Checkout.com).

05

Some champions are entirely absent

Companies valued at over €500M appear in no query at all. AI visibility isn't correlated with size — but with structuring.

06

SEO no longer predicts visibility

Training corpus, Schema.org, brand authority and primary sources replace backlinks as the dominant signal.

07

Law: Bredin Prat crushes it (100 vs 64)

One firm dominates "individual" and "market" queries. The Anglo-Saxon Magic Circle caps below 18: a massive premium for native francophones.

08

Real estate: the most polarised

SeLoger + Meilleurs Agents capture 71% of citations. No local agency appears on "best agency in [city]": the ground is open.

09

Healthcare: Doctolib merges both layers

21 of 25 rank-1 mentions. The sector clearly splits the "user" layer (Doctolib, Kry, Qare) from the "market" layer (hospitals, clinical AI tools).

Sector ranking

The brands AIs cite most, by sector.

An extract of the top per sector. The KVS weights coverage across the three AIs, average citation rank and volume.

SectorCited leaderKVSFollowed by
SaaS / TechMistral AI100Doctolib · Contentsquare · Dataiku
Finance / FintechRevolut100Wise · N26 · Checkout.com
Law firmsBredin Prat100Gide (64) · Magic Circle (<18)
Real estateSeLoger + Meilleurs Agents71%Idealista · Notaires de France · Rightmove
HealthcareDoctolib100Kry · Qare · hospitals · clinical AI tools

The full top-40 ranking per sector, with the AI-by-AI breakdown, is in the PDF report.

How we measure

The KVS protocol, in three moves.

No black box: the method is reproducible, and that's what makes the score defensible.

01 · PROMPTS

145 calibrated questions

Questions typical of a decision-maker in discovery, submitted once per AI, in a neutral session — no history, no personalisation.

02 · EXTRACTION

1,870 citations logged

For each answer: companies cited, rank in the list, mention context. 718 unique entities across 5 sectors.

03 · WEIGHTING

The KVS score out of 100

A rank 1 doesn't weigh like a rank 5, and coverage across the three AIs is the most discriminating factor. Hence the final score.

Full report

The KAIS Barometer 2026 in full

The full top-40 ranking per sector, the AI-by-AI breakdown, the European-sovereignty maps and the six levers that replace SEO. Free, in exchange for your work email.

PDF · 5 sectors · 1,870 citations analysed · 18 April 2026 edition

Get the PDF report

And you — are you cited in your sector?

Find out your KVS score in 48h, on the queries that decide your clients.

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