Last night a major press‑release outfit slid a message into my inbox bragging about a new feature in their distribution reports. Alongside the usual list of syndicated placements they now tack on a block labeled ChatGPT results. The email promises a “forward‑looking way to see how your press releases are picked up, shared, and summarized by AI.” There was even a screenshot of ChatGPT answering a query about the company’s news, implying that the release is somehow ranking in artificial‑intelligence search.

That’s a clever marketing hook—and utterly misleading.

ChatGPT is not a search engine

First, let’s clear up what these “ChatGPT results” actually are. OpenAI’s assistant is a generative model; when asked about current events it supplements its knowledge by making a call out to a search API, retrieves a few pages, and then summarizes them with citations. There is no index, no ranking algorithm, and certainly no “organic visibility” for press releases. When you see ChatGPT quoting your release it simply means someone fed the model a URL or a prompt specific enough to bring up your content.

The magic prompt behind the screenshot

That’s exactly what’s happening in the PR vendor’s report. They typed the title of the press release into ChatGPT, grabbed the neatly formatted answer, and pasted it into their distribution summary. The appearance of the release in ChatGPT isn’t evidence of “AI amplification”—it’s a cherry‑picked screenshot. If you or I asked an unrelated question about the company, the model would almost certainly pull from more authoritative sources. When the only proof of success requires the vendor to write a custom prompt, it’s theater, not SEO.

Google treats press releases as ads

There’s another uncomfortable truth hidden in all the AI hype: search engines have long treated mass‑syndicated releases like paid advertisements. Google’s own Webmaster Trends analyst, John Mueller, recommends adding rel="nofollow" to links in press releases and equates them to ads (https://searchengineland.com/google-links-in-a-press-release-should-be-nofollowed-like-advertisements-168339). In a discussion about link schemes he noted that, to be safe, even direct URLs in a release should be nofollowed. The goal of a release is to get the word out so that real journalists cover your news and link to you editorially, not to manipulate rankings through mass distribution.

So when a PR company implies their syndication is influencing AI search, they’re glossing over the fact that Google ignores these links entirely. Even if an answer engine picks up the press‑release host page, those nofollow links will not magically boost your site’s visibility.

Press releases still have a place—just not for AI tricks

Press releases aren’t useless. They can be a legitimate way to inform reporters about real news. They can generate baseline coverage and citations when targeted properly. But mass‑blasting “news” across hundreds of low‑quality sites has never been a path to organic search success, and it certainly isn’t a hack to get you into ChatGPT’s answers. Genuine thought leadership—original research, interviews, and useful guides—is what drives earned media and the kind of links Google values. There’s no shortcut.

How to vet AI‑amplification claims

The next time a vendor tells you their distribution will get your content into “AI results,” ask to see the prompt they used to generate those screenshots. See if you can reproduce the outcome with a neutral query. Look up how large language models actually work. Read Google’s guidance on link schemes. And remember: if your “AI win” requires the marketer to type a magic prompt to make your press release appear, it’s not a win. It’s theater.

(Insert your email screenshot here.)