Published reports

Original research from AuthorityTech on the Machine Relations category.

AI Search Adoption

How quickly answer engines are replacing traditional search as the first step in commercial discovery.

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

What independent studies show about where AI systems source their citations.

82–89%

of AI citations come from earned media, not brand-owned content

Muck Rack Generative Pulse (Dec 2025); Fullintel + UConn IPRRC (Feb 2026)

200×

faster AI visibility for brands publishing 12+ citation-optimized pieces per month

AuthorityTech client data, 2024–2025

34%

of AI citations in a given category go to a single publisher

AuthorityTech citation analysis, 2025

Industry Disruption

Where legacy PR firms are losing revenue and where the money is moving as AI reshapes discovery.

−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

AuthorityTech has run earned media for 27 unicorn startups since 2018. The research on this page is grounded in that client work.

8 years

in business

Founded 2018 by Jaxon Parrott and Christian Lehman

27

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

Every independent study on the topic lands on the same number: 82–89% of what AI systems cite is earned media. Not press releases. Not brand blogs. Earned coverage in publications the model already trusts.

ChatGPT now handles over 2 billion queries daily (OpenAI, 2025). Gartner projects traditional search will decline 25% by 2026. The brands that secure citation positions in this window will be difficult to displace — because AI citation compounds the way domain authority once did.