We tend to think of artificial intelligence as something we actively use - asking questions, generating ideas, speeding up tasks.

Listen to this article

But something far more significant is happening beneath the surface.

AI is no longer a tool that can speed up our workflow. It’s becoming a gatekeeper. Without most people and brands realising, it is starting to decide which brands get seen, which voices get trusted, and ultimately, which businesses grow.

What’s interesting with this movement is that the rules are incredibly different from what came before.

For years, brands have focused on garnering visibility through paid advertising, social media growth, and search engine optimisation. But the rise of AI-driven platforms is fundamentally reshaping how people discover and choose who to trust.

Research suggests that more than 66% of people use AI on a regular basis, with 500-600 million engaging daily. When someone asks an AI platform for advice - whether it’s about a healthcare provider, a product, or a service - the answer isn’t driven by who has spent the most on ads. It’s shaped by what the AI can find, interpret and deem credible from across the internet.

That means earned media, expert commentary, consistent messaging and real authority across a myriad of platforms are becoming more influential than ever before.

Recent analysis has shown that AI-generated answers overwhelmingly cite non-paid sources, with a significant proportion of those references coming from recent, authoritative content. To put it plainly, if your brand isn’t being talked about in the right places, in the right way, you are far less likely to appear at all.

This shift is particularly important in sectors like healthcare, wellness and aesthetics, where trust is everything and decisions are rarely made lightly.

Patients are no longer just “searching” - they are asking questions. And increasingly, they are accepting AI-generated answers as a starting point for those decisions.

If your expertise isn’t visible, structured and credible enough for AI to recognise it, you risk becoming invisible at the very moment someone is actively looking for what you offer.

What’s more, this is happening before any direct interaction takes place. By the time a customer or patient reaches out, their perception has often already been shaped - not just by what they’ve seen, but by what an algorithm has chosen to show them. This is where many businesses are falling behind.

There is still a heavy reliance on performance marketing and short-term visibility tactics, without enough focus on building long-term authority and trust signals that AI can interpret and prioritise. It’s so important for brands to realise that AI rewards consistency, credibility and clarity over noise.

With regards to actionable insight, ask yourself - are you being referenced across reputable sources? Is your messaging aligned? Are credible voices associated with your brand? Are you contributing meaningfully to your category?

In many ways, AI is accelerating a shift that was already underway whereby trust is built before the first interaction, and where reputation is formed at scale through what exists publicly, not just what is said in private.

These are not new principles by any means, but I do think they’ve been undervalued for some time. Now, however, they are becoming non-negotiable.

For business leaders, this requires a change in mindset. Visibility can no longer be treated as a marketing output with a neat little ROI at the end of it. It has to be seen as a strategic asset - one that directly influences how your brand is interpreted, recommended and chosen.

That means investing in expert-led content, credible media presence, and clear, consistent messaging that reflects real expertise rather than marketing spin.

It also means recognising that your brand is now being “read” by machines as well as people. And machines are far less forgiving of ambiguity.

The brands that succeed in this next phase won’t necessarily be the loudest. They’ll be the clearest. The most credible. The most consistently understood.

In a world where AI is shaping decisions at scale, it’s not just about being seen anymore - it’s about whether you’re chosen, or quite simply overlooked.

Sophie Attwood is a British public relations consultant, founder of SA Communications, author of Beautiful PR, and a Forbes contributor specialising in beauty, wellness, health and medical aesthetics.

LBC Opinion provides a platform for diverse opinions on current affairs and matters of public interest.

The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official LBC position.

To contact us email opinion@lbc.co.uk

© LBC