Document
Question, assistant, date and wrong sentence, first of all.
AI errors about your brand
When AI gets your business wrong.
If ChatGPT or another assistant says wrong things about your business, the error almost always comes from a source: outdated, ambiguous, about a namesake, or missing. Find out how to document it, trace the source, fix it and check that the answer changes.
In brief
You fix the source, not the answer.
An assistant that gets a business wrong usually repeats information taken from elsewhere or fills a gap. A lasting correction goes through the pages the model reads, not through an argument with the chat.
Trace
Look for the page that says the same thing: yours, a third party’s or none.
Fix and check
Update the source, then repeat the same question over time.
Five types of error
What an assistant gets wrong, and why.
Errors about a brand are not all alike. Recognising the type tells you straight away where to look for the cause and who can act.
Five types of error an assistant can make about a business, an invented example for each and the origin it usually comes from.
| Type of error | Made-up example | Likely origin |
|---|---|---|
| Outdated fact | Opening hours or a price from two years ago. | An old page still online and cited. |
| Namesake | The brand confused with a company of the same name. | No source that tells the two companies apart. |
| Wrong attribution | A competitor’s product assigned to you. | A badly written comparison or list. |
| Invented fact | An office or a service that does not exist. | A gap: no clear source on the point. |
| Outdated judgement | A problem already solved described as current. | Reviews or articles never followed up. |
First of all
A report that can be checked.
Before fixing, record the error in a ticket: without the exact question, date and assistant you will not be able to tell whether the answer really changed after the fix.
An example ticket for an error about a fictional brand: question, assistant and date, wrong sentence, correct fact with its source and next step.
Error no. 7 · Northstar Audio, demonstration brand
- Question and assistant
- “Does Northstar have shops in London?”, general assistant, 3 October.
- Wrong sentence
- “It has a shop on Oxford Street.”
- Correct fact
- No shops: online sales only, as stated on the Contact page.
- Likely source
- An old local directory with a closed address.
From the answer to the source
Five steps to a lasting correction.
The path is always the same: repeat the question to rule out a one-off, find the source, fix it where possible, report the answer and come back to check.
The five steps by which a recurring error in an AI answer is traced back to its source, fixed and then checked over time.
Repeat the question
Several times and on different days: an isolated error matters less.
Find the source
The cited pages or those that say the same thing.
Fix it at the source
Your site right away, third-party pages with a documented request.
Report the answer
With the assistant’s feedback tool, if there is one.
Check again
The same question weeks later, recording the result.
Who can fix it
The sources you can update, and how.
Some sources depend on you, others on third parties with their own rules. Respecting those rules makes the correction faster and more credible.
The most frequent sources behind errors about businesses, who controls them and the proper route to request an update.
| Source | Who controls it | How to fix it |
|---|---|---|
| Your site | Your team. | A clear, dated page that answers the question. |
| Business profiles and directories | The owner, after verification. | By updating the profile the business has claimed. |
| Collaborative encyclopedias | The community of editors. | By proposing the change with sources, respecting the conflict-of-interest rules. |
| Press and trade sites | The editorial team. | A request for correction with documents. |
What to avoid
Three shortcuts that make things worse.
Haste pushes towards fixes that do not correct the source of the error and that, over time, can damage the brand’s credibility with customers.
Text written for the models
Pages full of repeated sentences do not make a fact any truer.
Fabricated reviews or articles
They are prohibited and, if discovered, become the news themselves.
Conclusions from a single answer
Answers vary: an error must be confirmed before acting.
Frequently asked questions
Questions about AI errors on your brand.
Short answers to the most common doubts when an AI assistant gets your brand wrong: what hallucinations are, how to report them to providers, how long a correction takes and how to handle personal data.
What is an AI model hallucination?
It is a statement presented as true that has no support in the sources. About businesses, it often arises where clear information is missing.
Can I ask ChatGPT to correct itself?
Correcting it in one conversation does not change the answers others get. Use the assistant’s feedback tool and work on the sources.
How long does it take for the answer to change?
There is no fixed time: it depends on when the sources are reread and on the assistant’s mode. That is why you check again over time.
What if the error concerns a person?
For personal data, the GDPR provides a right to rectification (Article 16). Assistant providers have dedicated channels for privacy requests.
Related paths
After “AI errors about your brand”, the next step.
The guides explain the concepts with examples on fictional brands. From here you continue with the other guides, the methodology and the features that apply them to your brand.
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