Peec AI researcher says ChatGPT retrieved and cited a site built with 50,000 fake stats
In his account, Yesilyurt describes a $50 experiment that he says drew ChatGPT retrievals and citations for fabricated figures. His traffic and citation measurements have not been independently verified.
By Ryan Merket · Published
Primary source: Peec AI
Why it matters
AI systems can retrieve material that ranks poorly in conventional search, and Yesilyurt says figures from his deliberately fabricated dataset later appeared in research. For teams using AI-generated research, a citation is a lead to verify, not proof that the underlying number is true.
Metehan Yesilyurt, a GEO researcher at Peec AI, published an account of how StateGlobe, a website he built with fabricated statistics, continued attracting ChatGPT retrievals and citations after its Google visibility collapsed. The experiment raises a practical problem for researchers and writers: a figure can travel through AI search and into published work without becoming reliable evidence.…
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