A sharp piece argues most AI visibility scores are useless because they measure carefully chosen prompts rather than what consumers actually enter. The fix is to track real queries, not vanity metrics.
A score built on prompts you chose is a mirror, not a measurement.
A wave of tools now promises to score how visible your brand is inside AI answers. A pointed argument doing the rounds says most of those scores are close to useless. The reason is simple. They measure how you rank against a set of carefully chosen prompts, not against what real people actually type into ChatGPT or Google.
The gap matters. A vendor picks prompts that flatter the tool and the brand, runs them, and hands you a number that looks like progress. Real consumers do not type those prompts. They type messy, specific, high-intent questions the score never tested. So the number goes up while the reality stays flat.
Why it matters
AI search is real and worth measuring, which is exactly why the wrong metric is dangerous. A vanity score gives you the feeling of visibility without the substance. For Australian businesses being sold AI visibility dashboards right now, the question is not how high the number is. It is whether the number reflects the questions your actual customers ask. A metric you cannot tie to real demand is a metric that is grading its own homework.
The number of things any AI visibility metric must get right to be worth anything: real queries and real intent. Most get neither
What to do about it
AI visibility is worth understanding, but a score you cannot connect to a real customer question is just a nicer way of flying blind.