# Genesis 03 — AI Shopping Visibility and the Buy Path Problem

> Genesis 03 examines what ChatGPT and Gemini return after recommending ecommerce brands: brand-owned product pages, third-party destinations, and no usable product-page paths.

- Canonical: https://research.caeliai.com/research/genesis-03
- Markdown: https://research.caeliai.com/research/genesis-03.md
- Publisher: Caeliai (https://caeliai.com), independent AI commerce research and advisory practice
- Official LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/caeliai/
- Author: Kalan Peace
- Founder LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kalan-peace-2b2a18198
- Contact: contact@caeliai.com

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Genesis 03 · Technical report

# AI shopping visibility and the buy path problem.

Kalan Peace · Caeliai · Published May 6, 2026

N = 380 brand observations · 66 public conversations · ChatGPT + Gemini

Published May 6, 2026. Also published as “AI Shopping Visibility: The Buy Path Problem”.

Genesis 03 examines what ChatGPT and Gemini return after recommending ecommerce brands.

This field study records whether the returned destination is a brand-owned product page, a third-party merchant, or no usable product-page path.

**Quick read**

The paper follows public AI shopping conversations from recommendation through returned destination, then separates brand visibility from path quality.

## What the study measures.

The study treats AI recommendation as a routing system. Once a model names a brand, the recorded outcome is whether the returned destination is a brand-owned product page, a retailer or marketplace, or no usable product-page path.

**Method**

- 66 public ChatGPT and Gemini shopping conversations.
- Each conversation is linked to a Markdown record for an evidence trail.
- Temperature-zero extraction for brand, merchant, and routing outcome.
- Deterministic aggregation into Owns the path, Leaks the path, No path, and site-health layers.
**Outcome taxonomy**

Owns the path records a brand-owned product page. Leaks the path records a retailer or marketplace destination. No path records a brand name without a usable product-page path.

*Caption:* Fig. 03:1 · Routing outcome distribution N = 380 brand observations · May 2026

Source: Genesis 03 source matrix · 380 brand observations from 66 conversations. Percentages may not total 100% because of rounding. A destination does not establish a click or purchase. This historical cohort is separate from later share archives.

- **36.8%** - Owns the path
- **17.6%** - Leaks the path
- **45.5%** - No path
**Core claim**

> A recommendation can name a brand without returning a usable product-page path.

For this study, visibility and path quality are separate observations: whether a brand appears, and where the returned link resolves.

**Site health layer**

Genesis 03 also scans canonical brand domains as a separate diagnostic layer. The paper finds site health is weakly correlated with AI routing, so it should be treated as a related but distinct signal.

- **257** - Domains scanned
- **231** - Accessible sites
- **41/100** - Median health score
**Source trail**

The full PDF includes the 66-link source matrix so each result can be traced back to a public AI conversation and the extraction evidence used for scoring.

**Why it matters**

AI shopping outputs can include brand names and destinations. Genesis 03 documents whether the observed destination was a brand page, a third-party page, or none.

The study measures routing outcomes after recommendations. It does not establish completed purchases or revenue.

Caeliai · measured May 2026 · contact@caeliai.com