AI brand visibility with LLM, AI search, and Share of Model (SOM) needs agentic, in-house, AI brand agents as well as consumer agents like ChatGPT, per Joanne Z. Tan.
Your competitors are showing up in AI-generated answers. Your brand may not be. And unlike Google, there is no page two on ChatGPT — invisible means irrelevant.
The problem runs deeper than most brand leaders realize. AI has already disrupted how consumers find products. Now agentic AI is disrupting how they buy them. General-purpose consumer agents like ChatGPT are stepping into the role of trusted purchasing advisor — and they are not loyal to your brand. Without a deliberate strategy, your brand visibility erodes with every AI-assisted decision your customers make without you.
The solution begins with understanding AI brand agents — what they are, how they work, and why deploying one may be the most consequential brand investment you make this decade.
In this podcast episode, brand strategist and AI experience design pioneer Joanne Z. Tan examines the growing divide between brands that are architecting their AI presence and those that are being written out of AI search entirely. The strategic imperative: shift from SEO to SOM — Share of Model — and build AI brand agents that keep your brand in the conversation.
👉 To read it as a blog
👉 To watch it as a 13-min video
The Problem: AI Search Has Changed the Rules of Brand Visibility
Traditional SEO rewarded keywords and backlinks. AI search rewards authority and resolution. Large language models are not scanning for your brand name — they are scanning for the most credible, specific answer to a user’s problem. If your content does not speak that language, your brand does not appear.
Meanwhile, consumer AI agents are making purchasing recommendations on behalf of your customers right now. Without a counterweight, those recommendations increasingly favor whoever has educated the model best — and that may be your competitor.
The Solution: How AI Brand Agents Shift the Balance in Your Favor
What Share of Model Means for Your Brand
Harvard Business Review has identified SOM — Share of Model — as the emerging standard for measuring brand visibility in AI search. Unlike share of search, SOM tracks how often and how favorably your brand appears across LLM-generated results. Brands that solve specific problems with specific answers are the ones LLMs surface. Generic positioning is invisible positioning.
Why AI Brand Agents Outperform Consumer Agents
Consumer agents like ChatGPT serve the consumer, not your brand. AI brand agents serve both — because they are built on your proprietary data, your customer insights, and your product depth. Sephora’s brand agent, for example, draws on 140,000 skin tone profiles and 34 million user records. No consumer agent can replicate that level of personalization. Add a human-in-the-loop model for high-stakes decisions, and responsible AI practices that protect customer privacy and auditability, and your brand agent becomes the trusted guide no third-party agent can replace.
Three Stages of AI Brand Agent Adoption
Knowing when and how to deploy AI brand agents depends on the stakes of the customer decision. Low-stakes, habitual purchases are the natural entry point. High-stakes decisions — healthcare, financial, luxury, personal — require a more nuanced approach that blends AI efficiency with human empathy. This episode maps all three stages so brand leaders can sequence their adoption strategically.
Practical Strategies to Strengthen Your Brand’s AI Search Presence
Beyond deploying an AI brand agent, there are concrete steps to influence how LLMs and consumer agents perceive and represent your brand. These include regularly educating LLMs with accurate, authoritative brand content; adopting LLMS.TXT formatting so AI can find your most current information; integrating with consumer agent platforms where appropriate; and preparing for the eventual arrival of pay-to-play AI advertising. Each strategy compounds your Share of Model over time.
This Episode Is for You If You Are Asking:
Why does my brand disappear in AI search results while competitors appear consistently? How do I stop consumer AI agents from routing my customers to competing brands? What does it actually take to build and deploy an AI brand agent? How do I design a brand strategy that wins in an agentic AI world?
If any of these questions keep you up at night, this episode was built for you.
Take the Next Step
The window to lead AI search — rather than react to it — is open now. It will not stay open indefinitely.
AIXD.world helps forward-thinking founders, CEOs, and brand leaders design AI brand agents and SOM-optimized content strategies that keep their brands visible, authoritative, and competitive as agentic AI reshapes how the world discovers and buys.
👉 Contact Joanne’s team at AIXD.world to begin building your brand’s AI presence before your competitors do.
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About the Author and Host
Joanne Z. Tan is the Founder and CEO of 10 Plus Brand, Inc. and the visionary behind AIXD — AI Experience Design. A globally recognized brand strategist, thought leadership coach, and AI experience design pioneer, she helps founders, CEOs, executives, and organizations decode their Brand DNA and evolve into powerful, AI-ready, future-ready brands.
Trained in law and business with a liberal arts foundation from Brandeis University, Joanne brings a rare multidisciplinary lens to brand strategy — spanning business modeling, content architecture, AI experience design (AIXD), go-to-market strategy, and culture. A former journalist and award-winning photographic artist, she is also a poet, writer, and wilderness backpacker.
© Joanne Z. Tan, 2026. All rights reserved.