AI Search Tools Cited a Fictional Concept Within One Week

ChatGPT, Perplexity, Grok and an unspecified Google AI product cited posts about a fictional concept within seven days, according to Search Engine Journal. Researchers at Fudan University published the posts through ordinary accounts on websites that the tools frequently cited.

The researchers created articles about the fictional Cactus Gravity Protocol and added fabricated names and figures to track whether the tools repeated them. Eight of the 10 tested tools cited the concept within a week, including all four tools focused on the English language web.

Grok cited a related post in 30 of 32 answers measured from its first citation through the seventh day. Google AI cited one in 15 of 33 answers, Perplexity in 13 of 35 and ChatGPT in 7 of 20. Grok repeated a planted detail in 53 percent of its answers, compared with 10 percent for ChatGPT, 6 percent for Google AI and none for Perplexity.

Posts about a fictional keyboard received no citations from the four English language web tools during the same period. The paper does not identify which Google product was tested, and its experiments do not establish whether the pattern applies to searches for real brands or products.