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Independent research · AI retrieval · Citations

Absorbed, Not Credited?

What visible citations can—and cannot—tell us about AI answers to shopping questions.

By Ameneh Saeednia · · 12 pages

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Cover of Absorbed, Not Credited?
18AI answers
6prompts
53credited sources

Inside the research

Some answers gave no visible credit

Four answers to the two general prompts in ChatGPT and AI Mode contained no visible citations. That observation describes the interface; it does not reveal how the answer was produced.

Specific questions changed the citation pattern

Price, location and current-information prompts showed citations in all three sampled tools. For the value-for-money prompt, eight of fourteen links pointed to independent reviewers.

Keep inference separate from observation

The title raises a question. An uncited answer does not prove training-data absorption, identify an uncredited source, or establish whether retrieval occurred. I would use the findings to design repeated citation tests, not to estimate lost traffic.