🔎 Citations are the trust layer in AI search

PM AI Search
(2026 Edition)

5 dynamics and 5 metrics for AI search PMs.

Build AI Search PM Skills — Free →

5 Dynamics

1.

Citations are the trust layer — hallucination without citation is a death sentence

2.

Retrieval quality > model quality for most queries

3.

Latency under 2s is the bar — users won't wait 10s for a synthesised answer

4.

Source relationships with publishers shape defensibility

5.

Follow-up questions are the new engagement surface — not just one-shot answers

5 Metrics

1.

Query resolution rate (did user stop after first answer?)

2.

Follow-up conversation depth

3.

Citation click-through

4.

Hallucination rate (measured, not guessed)

5.

Retention D30 among power users

FAQ

Is AI search taking share from Google?

Slowly but measurably. Perplexity, ChatGPT, and Google's own AI Overviews handle some queries traditional search historically owned (comparisons, summaries, research). But transactional and navigational queries still go to classic search. The split is real; the total pie is growing.

Practice AI Search PM Scenarios

Start Free Trial →