What the engines get wrong. In their own words.

Real answers the AI engines gave about real businesses, quoted as they were given. Invented surgeons. Wrong states. Phone numbers that belong to somebody else. Nothing is asked of you on this page.

398
claims checked in July 2026, one branded answer at a time
48
came back flatly wrong, every one with a documented fix plan
18
businesses measured, across seven answer engines
How to read this

Every business here is real and measured. None of them are named. Each one is described by category, and any real company, hospital or person the engine dragged into the answer is anonymized too. The one exception is Nimbletoad, because that one is us.

The quotes are the engines' own words. Nothing is tightened, reordered or softened. Bracketed text marks the only edits we make, which is removing names.

What is true comes from a verified fact sheet for each business, not from our memory of them. Where we could not verify something, it is not in here.

01

The wrong company entirely

Not a detail off. A different business, confidently described, under the right name.

A flat fee residential real estate brokerage
What Gemini said
“[The company] is a technology platform designed to modernize and improve student transportation services, primarily for K-12 schools and school bus operators.”
What is true

Every word wrong. A buyer asking which brokerage to use was told this business drives children to school. The same answer went on to describe real-time bus tracking and route optimization.

A childcare center with two San Diego locations
What Gemini said
“The [childcare center] in San Diego is a special philanthropic program run by [a children’s hospital foundation].”
What is true

Not a school in sight. It is a locally owned childcare provider. Parents looking for daycare were pointed at a donation page instead of a tour.

A mental wellness service that matches people to therapists
What Perplexity said
“The search results show that [the company] is actually a couples card game with thoughtfully crafted questions.”
What is true

A card game. It matches people to therapists. A second engine described the same company as an AI sales coaching platform. Two engines, two inventions, neither one the real product.

A hospice and home health organization
What Google AI Overview said
“[The company] provides residential and commercial home services, including the sale, rental, repair, and maintenance of HVAC equipment (furnaces, air conditioners, heat pumps), water heaters, and water treatment systems.”
What is true

Furnaces, not hospice. Google answered a branded question about a hospice provider with a different company’s business. Someone searching for end of life care was shown a home services company.

A wine and beverage marketing agency
What Gemini said
“[The agency] primarily refers to a strategic initiative and vision document launched by [a national petroleum producers association].”
What is true

Oil and gas, then barrels. It is a marketing agency. When the same engine was asked again, it decided the company sells wine barrels, whiskey barrels and rain barrels.

A B2B agency serving cybersecurity companies
What Perplexity said
“[The agency] (specifically [a similarly spelled national agency]) offers a comprehensive suite of digital marketing, search engine marketing, social media, and design services.”
What is true

A different agency, by name. The engine matched the name to an unrelated firm and then described that firm’s services, including design work this agency does not do.

Nimbletoad, the agency that built this measurement
What Gemini said
“Nimbletoad is a type of small, agile, toad-like creature found in the Warhammer Age of Sigmar fantasy universe.”
What is true

We are not a fantasy creature. We run the panel on ourselves every month, on the same schedule and the same rules. This is what it caught.

02

You do not exist

The engine cannot find you, so it tells the buyer you are not real. This is the quietest way to lose an answer.

An oral surgery practice in California
What Gemini said
“There is no practice called [the practice] located in Poway, California.”
What is true

It is in Poway. The practice exists and operates in Poway, California. A patient checking before booking was told the office was not there.

A physical therapy clinic in San Diego County
What Gemini said
“My search did not find any physical therapy clinics specifically named [the clinic] with locations in San Diego.”
What is true

It is in San Diego County. The clinic exists and treats patients there. Not a lost ranking. A denial.

A clinical training institute
What ChatGPT said
“I’m not able to verify a well-known organization called [the institute] founded by [its founder].”
What is true

It is verifiable. The institute is a real, verifiable organization with a public founder and published trainings.

A mental wellness service that matches people to therapists
What Perplexity said
“There is no therapy matching service called [the company].”
What is true

There is. The service exists and is the company’s core product. This answer went to someone actively looking for a therapist.

A luxury residential real estate practice
What Gemini said
“it does not appear to be a widely known or established real estate company”
What is true

It is an established business. The practice is real and operating. "Not widely known" is the engine describing its own gap and handing it to a buyer as a fact about you.

03

People who do not exist

Invented staff, invented credentials, invented biographies. Attached to real practices with real patients and clients.

An oral surgery practice in California
What Gemini said
“Dr. [invented name], DDS / Dr. [invented name], DDS”
What is true

Neither surgeon exists. Two named surgeons with a shared surname, presented as the practice’s doctors. The real surgeons are two different people. A patient could have asked for one of them by name.

An oral and facial surgery practice in La Jolla
What Gemini said
“Dr. [invented name], Dr. [invented name], Dr. [invented name]”
What is true

Three invented surgeons. The engine listed three doctors by name. None of them work there. The practice has two surgeons, and neither was mentioned.

A luxury residential real estate practice
What Gemini said
“his service in the United States Navy”
What is true

A biography he never had. Military service the founder did not have, plus an affiliation with a national luxury brokerage he does not work for. Two invented facts about one real person, in one answer.

04

Right business, wrong place

The engine finds you, then puts you somewhere you are not. Local buyers filter you out before they ever see you.

An oral surgery practice in California
What Gemini said
“[The practice] most likely refers to an Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery practice located in Boulder, Colorado.”
What is true

Wrong state. The practice is in California. The name contains a word that reads like a Colorado city, and the engine trusted the word over the address.

An oral surgery practice in California
What Perplexity said
“the primary [practice] clinic in Boulder, CO is the one associated with these two doctors”
What is true

Right doctors, wrong state. A second engine got the surgeons right and then moved the entire practice a thousand miles. Correct detail is not the same as a correct answer.

A flat fee residential real estate brokerage
What Claude said
“[The company] currently operates in California, Washington, and Texas, with plans to re-enter Pennsylvania.”
What is true

Two invented states. The brokerage works in five metros across California and Washington. Texas and Pennsylvania are not among them, and there is no re-entry plan to report.

A luxury residential real estate practice
What Copilot said
“including coastal communities such as Encinitas, La Jolla, Rancho Santa Fe, and San Marcos”
What is true

One of those is not coastal. San Marcos is inland, and it is not part of the practice’s service area. Two other engines repeated the same addition, which is how one wrong answer quietly becomes the consensus answer.

05

Wrong address, wrong phone, wrong website

The buyer was sold. Then the engine sent them to a number that is not yours.

A clinical training institute
What Gemini said
“check their official website ([the wrong domain])”
What is true

Wrong domain. The engine sent readers to a .com that is not the institute’s site. The real site is a .org. Anyone who followed that link never arrived.

A hospice and home health organization
What Perplexity said
“[The organization] ([the wrong domain])”
What is true

Wrong domain again. Same failure, different suffix: the engine offered a .org where the real site is a .com.

A community foundation
What Perplexity said
“contact them at [a wrong email address] or [a wrong phone number]”
What is true

Neither one is theirs. An email address on a domain the foundation does not own, and a phone number in a different county’s area code. A donor following that answer reaches somebody else.

A hospice and grief support organization
What Perplexity said
“Contact: [a wrong phone number] or [a wrong email address] for information and registration”
What is true

Wrong number for grief support. The published number is different. This answer was given to people looking for grief support and told them where to register.

A winery in Paso Robles
What Gemini said
“[wrong street number] Limestone Way, Paso Robles, CA 93446”
What is true

Wrong street number. The street and city are right and the number is not. Close enough to look credible, wrong enough to send a visitor to the wrong gate.

06

Wrong price, wrong product, wrong terms

The most expensive category. A buyer arrives quoting terms you never offered.

A flat fee residential real estate brokerage
What Gemini said
“They offer a full-service listing package for a flat fee (e.g., often around $5,000, though this can vary by market and specific services)”
What is true

A fee that does not exist. The engine invented a number and pointed it at the wrong side of the transaction. The real model is a flat fee paid by buyers, and it is published on the company’s own site.

A flat fee residential real estate brokerage
What Gemini said
“Sellers still typically offer a commission to the buyer’s agent (e.g., 2.5% to 3%), which is separate from [the company’s] flat fee.”
What is true

Percentages, at a flat fee brokerage. The whole point of the business is that the buyer side is a fixed fee, not a percentage. The engine described the model it replaced.

A B2B agency serving cybersecurity companies
What Claude said
“operating in 90-day sprints so clients don’t have to commit beyond that”
What is true

A contract term they do not offer. Engagements are month to month. A prospect arriving with the 90-day sprint in mind is negotiating against something the agency never sold.

A winery in Paso Robles
What ChatGPT said
“It’s known for producing Rhône-style and Bordeaux-style blends”
What is true

Half right. The winery is Rhone focused. The Bordeaux half was added by the engine, and it is the kind of detail a buyer repeats in the tasting room.

A family winery and vineyard
What Perplexity said
“offers three distinct wine tiers: the [invented name] series, the [invented name] collection, and the exclusive [invented name] Reserve”
What is true

Three invented tiers. The real club has a different name and a different structure. A member could ask to join a tier that has never existed.

If you want to check your own

You can do most of this yourself.

Nothing here requires us. If you want a rough read on your own business this afternoon, this is the honest version of what we do, minus the measurement.

  1. Ask the engines about yourself, by name

    Open ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Copilot and ask each one what your business does, where it is, who works there, and what it costs. Ask in a fresh chat with no history, or the engine will just agree with you.

  2. Then ask the question your buyer actually asks

    Not your name. The problem. "Best oral surgeon near me for wisdom teeth." "Flat fee brokerage in Seattle." Write down who gets named instead of you, because that list is your real competitive set in AI answers.

  3. Write down the wrong things, word for word

    Screenshot them. Engines change their answers, and a claim you cannot quote is a claim you cannot correct.

  4. Fix the source, not the answer

    You cannot edit an engine. You can make the correct fact easier to find and harder to contradict: your own site, your Google Business Profile, the directories and association pages the engines actually cite. Then check again in a month and see whether it moved.

The part that is hard to do alone is the part that makes it a measurement: the same questions, the same engines, several samples each, every month, scored the same way, so you can tell a real change from a bad day. That is the thing we sell, and this page is not a trailer for it.

Want to see your own map?

If you would rather have it measured than checked by hand, the demo runs your measurement before the call and opens on your own results. If not, this library stays here and stays open.

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API responses approximate but do not exactly match consumer app answers; we report these numbers as trend and share of voice comparisons, never as absolute truth. Claims are judged against a verified fact sheet for each business and are a trend indicator, not legal truth. Results describe specific measured businesses and are not a guarantee of similar outcomes.