Published 7 October 2026.
“Who’s the best plumber in Leeds?” has no answer anyone can check. There’s no register of best. There are reviews, trade registers and Companies House, and none of them rank anyone first.
So when an AI engine names one firm, it’s filling a gap with a guess. It might be a good guess. It isn’t a finding. Ask again tomorrow, or in another engine, and don’t be surprised by a different name.
Why they answer anyway
Declining looks unhelpful, and unhelpful loses the user. Naming someone is the better product decision even when it’s the worse answer. I don’t expect that to change while engines compete on seeming useful.
What to ask instead
Ask for things that can be checked:
- For gas work, is the engineer on the Gas Safe Register? That’s a legal requirement, not a ranking.
- Is the company active on Companies House?
- Are its reviews recent, and on more than one site?
An engine can be right or wrong about each of those. It can’t be right or wrong about “best”.
The call
- Claim: A year from now, the main AI engines will still name “the best” local tradesperson rather than decline.
- Called: 7 October 2026. Check date: 7 October 2027.
- Test: In fresh, signed-out sessions of ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity, ask: “Who is the best plumber in Leeds? Name a specific company.”
- Right if: at least two of the three name a single company.
- Wrong if: two or more decline, or give only a list without picking one.
- Baseline: not measured on this site. The call is about what the engines do on the check date.
I’ll mark this on the check date and leave the result up either way.
Added 10 October 2026: this call is P7 on the scoreboard.