What AI tells South Africans to buy: we asked ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini 100 questions

More and more people ask AI what to buy. So we asked AI what it tells them.

On 13 October 2026 we asked ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini 100 questions South Africans ask. There were 25 questions in each of four industries: banking, insurance, medical aid, and cellphone and internet. We asked each question word for word, once, to each AI. That gave us 300 answers.

Then we looked at one simple thing: which brands each answer named, and which one it put first.

What we found, in short

• The three AIs rarely agree. They put the same brand first on just 10 of 75 questions. In insurance, they never did.
• A few brands take most of the top spots. In every industry, the top three brands took most of the first places: from 59% in insurance to 84% in medical aid.
• Being named is not the same as coming first. Some well-known brands were named in many answers but rarely came first.

Ask three AIs, get three answers

We counted the questions where all three AIs named at least one brand. Then we checked if they put the same brand first.

Industry	Same brand first
Banking	1 of 24 questions
Insurance	0 of 14 questions
Medical aid	6 of 14 questions
Cellphone and internet	3 of 23 questions
All four	10 of 75 questions

Each AI had its own favourites. In banking, ChatGPT most often put TymeBank first. Claude and Gemini most often put FNB first. In cellphone and internet, ChatGPT most often put MTN first, while Claude and Gemini most often put Vodacom first.

Your customers don't all use the same AI. So checking one of them tells you only part of the story.

Which brand did AI put first?

Here is how often each brand came first, out of the answers that named at least one brand. We also show how many of the 75 answers named the brand at all.

Banking

Brand	First in the answer	Named in at least
FNB	20 of 74	62 of 75
Standard Bank	13 of 74	58 of 75
Capitec	11 of 74	53 of 75
African Bank	9 of 74	22 of 75
TymeBank	8 of 74	27 of 75
Discovery	5 of 74	22 of 75
Absa	3 of 74	47 of 75
Nedbank	3 of 74	47 of 75

Two other banks came first once each. Absa and Nedbank were named in at least 47 answers each, but came first in only 3.

Insurance

Brand	First in the answer	Named in at least
OUTsurance	18 of 63	44 of 75
Discovery	10 of 63	43 of 75
Santam	9 of 63	32 of 75
Old Mutual	5 of 63	21 of 75
King Price	3 of 63	27 of 75
Sanlam	3 of 63	10 of 75
Hollard	2 of 63	22 of 75
MediPet	2 of 63	2 of 75
Naked	2 of 63	9 of 75
Travel Insurance Consultants	2 of 63	3 of 75

Seven other insurers came first once each. AI named at least 31 different providers in insurance. MiWay was named in at least 25 answers but came first in 1.

Medical aid

Brand	First in the answer	Named in at least
Discovery	46 of 64	59 of 75
Momentum	6 of 64	51 of 75
Bonitas	2 of 64	50 of 75
Fedhealth	2 of 64	31 of 75
Turnberry	2 of 64	2 of 75

Six other names came first once each. Medical aid was the most one-sided industry. One brand came first in 46 of 64 answers. Bonitas was named in at least 50 answers, but came first in just 2.

Cellphone and internet

Brand	First in the answer	Named in at least
Vodacom	27 of 72	57 of 75
MTN	12 of 72	57 of 75
Telkom	8 of 72	59 of 75
Afrihost	7 of 72	21 of 75
Openserve	5 of 72	14 of 75
Vumatel	4 of 72	14 of 75
Rain	3 of 72	27 of 75

Six other names came first once each. Telkom was named in at least 59 answers, but came first in only 8. Cell C was named in at least 40 answers, and came first in none.

Why coming first matters

When AI answers, it doesn't hand back ten links. It gives one answer with a few names in it. The first name sets the tone for the rest.

And none of this shows up in your reports. If AI names a competitor, the customer never visits your website. There is no click to count and no lead to lose. The sale just goes somewhere else.

AI also listens to what other websites say about you. In our check of 96 Google searches in South Africa on 11 October, we looked at the websites behind Google's own AI answers about insurance. A comparison site was one of them on 7 of 8 searches. No insurer's own website showed up on more than 6. You can read more in which sites Google's AI answers use in South Africa.

How we did it

• The questions. 100 questions South Africans ask when they choose a bank, an insurer, a medical aid, or a cellphone or internet provider. For example: "What is the best medical aid for a young family in South Africa?" We left out beauty and cars on purpose.
• The answers. We asked the AI behind ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini, through their official connections, on 13 October 2026. One answer per question per AI: 300 answers in all.
• Named. A brand is named if it appears anywhere in the answer. We count a company's own products too: a Vitality mention counts for Discovery. Links to sources are not counted as a mention.
• First. The first brand in an answer is the company whose name appears earliest. Comparison sites and news sites don't count as brands here.
• Same brand first. For each question, we checked if all three AIs put the same brand first. We only counted questions where all three named at least one brand.

What to keep in mind

• This is one day. AI answers change from day to day, and from person to person. Treat these numbers as a snapshot, not a ranking.
• "Named in" is a minimum. Long answers stop at a set length, so a brand near the end of a long answer can be missed. That is why we say "at least". It does not change which brand came first.
• These are facts about AI answers, not about the companies. Coming first in an AI answer says nothing about whether a bank, insurer or network is good. It says what AI told the person asking.

Where does your brand stand?

If your brand is in one of these industries, you now know more about your market in AI than most of your competitors do. If it's in another industry, the same questions apply: how often does AI name you, how often does it put you first, and who does it pick instead?

That is what CitedAI checks for South African brands, every month. Book a demo and we'll show you where AI puts your brand, next to your own competitors.