25. Why AI Chooses Your Brand: Demystifying How AI Discovery and Buyer Journeys Work

AI discovery and AEO are reshaping how B2B buyers find and trust brands — here’s
how to ensure yours shows up in AI search. As generative AI assistants like
ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, and Perplexity replace traditional search, brand
visibility now depends on how large language models (LLMs) learn, rank, and
recommend. In this episode of The Next Frontiers of AI, Scott Hebner , Principal
Analyst for AI at theCUBE Research, sits down with Stas Levitan discovery really
works — and how to ensure your brand is visible in the era of AI-mediated buyer
journeys. , CEO of LightSite.ai , to demystify how AI Together, they unpack a
19-attribute framework across four categories that explain how LLMs discover,
learn, and select brands to include in AI-generated answers. You’ll learn how to
optimize for credibility, context, and confidence using CAAT principles —
Credibility, Authority, Authenticity, and Trust — and what every CMO and
communications leader can do to make their brand AI-ready. The takeaway: The
days of optimizing for clicks are giving way to an era of optimizing for trust.
If your brand isn’t visible to AI, it isn’t visible to buyers.

Chapters
00:00 – Intro: Why it’s critical to demystify how AI discovers your brand
04:00 – The Shift from SEO to AEO: What zero-click search means for visibility
12:15 – Inside the Machine: How LLMs learn, retrieve, and rank brands for AI discovery
14:40 – The CAAT Principles: Building credibility, authority, authenticity, and trust
31:00 – Optimization Deep Dive: Enhancing AI knowledge, retrieval, and
website readiness
40:10 – Advice for CMOs: How to get started with AI Engine Optimization (AEO)

Learn more
https://LightSite.ai
https://thecuberesearch.com/analysts/scott-hebner/
https://aibizflywheel.substack.com/welcome