ChatGPT Search Can Pre-Select Brands Before Retrieval, Research Shows

Radyant's analysis of 615 buying questions and 3,842 ChatGPT fan-out runs from August 11–17, 2026 found that 28.6% of opening sub-queries named a vendor before any web results were retrieved. A separate arXiv study found query language and exit IP location materially change which brands ChatGPT recommends.

• 28.6% of opening fan-out queries named a vendor (CI 25.6–31.6%)
• Brands reached final answers without appearing in sub-queries in 9–29% of runs
• Query language and exit location shifted brand selection toward local or global names
• Top recommendations were unstable across 234 identical runs