Every week, a new "AI search revolution" makes headlines. But behind the buzz, the real shifts are quieter and measurable.
At Multiscal, we've analyzed real interaction data from AI assistants and AI-powered search engines. Here's what's actually changing in 2025.
The New Search Landscape
Search has evolved through three distinct phases: from keyword-based ranking to semantic understanding to generative synthesis. We've gone from "ten blue links" to "AI summaries" and "zero-click answers." From SEO to GEO (Generative Experience Optimization).
But here's what most people misunderstand: AI search is not replacing Google. It's restructuring how discovery happens across platforms (ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot, and beyond). The shift isn't about one platform winning. It's about how information retrieval itself is being fundamentally reimagined.
5 Real Trends for 2025
Trend 1: AI Search Is Becoming Conversational, Not Transactional
Query intent is evolving from keywords to conversations. People don't just search anymore. They ask, then refine, then ask again. They build context across multiple turns, treating AI assistants as collaborative thinking partners rather than lookup tools.
Our data shows the average follow-up depth in AI chat sessions has doubled since 2024. Users now ask 3-5 follow-up questions before considering a search session complete. This isn't a minor shift. It fundamentally changes what "ranking" means.
Implication: Brands must design content that survives multi-turn AI reasoning, not just one-shot keyword ranking. Your content needs to answer not just the initial question, but the inevitable follow-ups: "How does this compare?" "What are the trade-offs?" "Is this right for my specific use case?"
Trend 2: Sources Are Shrinking, Context Is Deepening
AI models now use curated retrieval datasets and trusted sources rather than broad web crawling. Unlike Google's index of trillions of pages, LLMs rely on high-authority, structured, and citation-rich data: Wikipedia, academic papers, verified knowledge bases, and authoritative industry publications.
The retrieval layer in modern AI search (RAG - Retrieval-Augmented Generation) doesn't just pull random web pages. It fetches semantically relevant chunks from pre-selected, trusted corpora. If your brand isn't part of these curated ecosystems, you're invisible, no matter how good your SEO is.
Implication: Visibility now depends on being part of these curated ecosystems, not just indexed websites. Focus on getting your brand into Wikipedia, Crunchbase, industry directories, and authoritative publications that AI models trust.
Trend 3: Personalization Is Quietly Taking Over
AI search assistants are building context memory and personal preference layers. ChatGPT remembers your past conversations. Perplexity adapts to your reading level and interests. Gemini integrates with your Google account to understand your professional context.
This means no two users see the same AI response. If you ask ChatGPT "What's the best project management tool?" today, and your colleague asks the same question tomorrow, you'll get different answers because the AI has learned about your team size, your technical expertise, and your workflow preferences.
Implication: GEO (Generative Experience Optimization) must include personalization testing: understanding how your brand appears across multiple user personas, contexts, and conversation histories. Traditional A/B testing won't cut it anymore.
Trend 4: Multimodal Search Is the New Default
AI search now integrates text + images + voice + code + documents in one seamless flow. Perplexity can analyze images you upload while answering your text questions. Gemini can read PDFs while generating summaries. ChatGPT can interpret charts, debug code, and write responses based on visual input.
This isn't a feature. It's the new baseline. Users expect AI assistants to understand whatever they throw at it, in whatever format. The boundaries between "image search," "text search," and "voice search" are dissolving.
Implication: Brands must optimize for multimodal retrievability. This means structured images with proper embeddings, comprehensive alt-text that AI can parse, video transcripts, code snippets with documentation, and visual assets that complement text content. Multimodal metadata is the new SEO.
Trend 5: AI Mentions Are the New Ranking
The new metric isn't position #1 on Google, but presence in AI-generated answers. Multiscal's visibility data shows that AI assistants mention top brands 60–80% less frequently than traditional SERPs show them.
Think about it: if you rank #1 on Google for "project management software," you get the click. But if ChatGPT recommends three competitors and doesn't mention you at all, you get nothing, even if your website is technically indexed and retrievable.
This is creating a new visibility gap. Brands that dominate SEO are discovering they're invisible in AI. And there's no dashboard to track it until now.
Implication: Measuring "AI mention share" is the new visibility KPI. You need to know: How often does ChatGPT mention your brand? In what context? Compared to which competitors? For which types of queries?
Technical Insight: How AI Search Actually Works
AI search doesn't rank links. It retrieves chunks of meaning. Here's the technical pipeline:
- RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation): Combines trained knowledge with real-time retrieval
- Embedding-based semantic retrieval: Matches meaning, not keywords
- Context window reasoning: Processes 100K+ tokens of context to generate answers
- Reinforcement tuning: Models are tuned to prioritize factual accuracy and trusted sources
In plain terms: AI search doesn't find your content. It decides if your brand deserves to be part of the answer.
What This Means for Your Brand
Search isn't dying. It's evolving into understanding. By 2026, AI search won't just find your content. It will decide if your brand deserves to be part of the answer.
The old playbook was simple: rank on Google, get traffic. The new playbook is harder but more valuable: become part of AI's knowledge ecosystem, earn recommendations, build trust with machine reasoning systems.
This requires a fundamentally different approach:
- Think presence, not traffic: Being mentioned in 100 AI answers is more valuable than 1,000 website visits that bounce
- Create content AI can reference: Structured, factual, citation-worthy information that models trust
- Own your niche semantically: Become the default answer for your problem domain across all AI platforms
- Measure AI visibility: Track how often, and in what context, AI assistants mention your brand
The Bottom Line
AI search is not a trend. It's a paradigm shift. And measuring your visibility in this new landscape is becoming essential.
Multiscal helps brands understand how they appear inside AI-generated answers and how to optimize for this new layer of visibility.
Start tracking your AI visibility today with Multiscal.
Measure how often your brand appears in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity responses. Benchmark against competitors. Optimize your GEO strategy with real data.