Data & Statistics

Machine Relations Research

The numbers behind the shift from human gatekeepers to machine gatekeepers. Authoritative data on AI search adoption, citation rates, and industry disruption.

📈 AI Search Adoption

2023
2024
2025
2026
AI search traffic growing 9.7× YoY

810M

ChatGPT monthly active users (2026)

OpenAI investor presentations

750M

Google Gemini monthly active users

Alphabet earnings calls

9.7×

AI search traffic year-over-year growth

Similarweb, Cloudflare Radar

−50%

Gartner-predicted traditional search decline by 2028

Gartner Predicts 2024

🎯 Citation & Earned Media

82–89%

of AI answers cite earned media over brand-owned content

Stanford WebGPT, Princeton NLP Lab

200×

faster AI visibility gains for brands producing 12+ optimized pieces/month

AuthorityTech client data

34%

of AI citations go to a single publisher per category

AuthorityTech citation analysis

Industry Disruption

Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Traditional PR revenue decline

−8.1%

Edelman US revenue decline (2025) — third consecutive year

PRWeek

4–5%

Publicis growth driven by AI/data capabilities

Publicis investor presentations

76%

of PR professionals now using AI tools daily

PRCA AI Adoption Survey 2025

83%

of Google queries are now zero-click

SparkToro Zero-Click Study

AuthorityTech Track Record

8 years

in business

Founded 2018 by Jaxon Parrott and Christian Lehman

20+

unicorn clients

Venture-backed startups valued at $1B+

~200

startups served

Fintech, AI/ML, SaaS, cybersecurity, enterprise

1,000+

Tier 1 placements

Forbes, TechCrunch, WSJ, Entrepreneur, Inc.

99.9%

delivery rate

1 refund in 8 years. Results or refund.

Key Insight

AI systems overwhelmingly prefer earned media over brand-owned content, and the shift from traditional search to AI search is accelerating faster than most brands are prepared for.

Brands that invest in Machine Relations now are building compounding advantages. Those that wait risk citation invisibility as AI search becomes the dominant discovery layer.

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