I asked ChatGPT to recommend my product. It had no idea it existed.

12 days ago, I typed my own product into ChatGPT and asked: "What's the best tool for [my category]?"

It recommended 5 competitors. Mine wasn't on the list.

I asked Perplexity the same question. Same result — my product didn't exist in AI's world.

That was the moment I realized: Google SEO is slowly becoming irrelevant. 37% of people now start searches in AI tools instead of Google. And if AI doesn't know your product exists, you're invisible to a growing chunk of potential customers.

The Problem I Found

I'm a solo founder (UX background, zero coding skills — literally building everything with AI coding agents). I went looking for a tool that could tell me: "Does AI recommend my product?"

I found 24 GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) tools. Every single one was built for enterprises. The cheapest was $29/month. Most were $300+/month. None were built for indie creators selling digital products on Gumroad, Etsy, or Notion.

What I Built

So I built one. In under 2 weeks. With Claude Code as my only developer.

How it works: Enter any product name → get an AI Visibility Score (0-100) in 10 seconds. Free. No signup required.

It checks 5 dimensions:

• Web Presence (are you mentioned online?)
• Source Authority (are high-quality sites covering you?)
• Recommendation Signals (do "best of" articles include you?)
• Community Validation (Reddit, forums, reviews)
• Competitive Context (how do you compare to alternatives?)

Plus it directly asks ChatGPT and Perplexity: "Do you know this product? Would you recommend it?"

The Data That Surprised Me

I ran my own product through it. Score: 12 out of 100. Ouch.

Then I checked products that AI does recommend:

• Figma → 100/100 (Gold: "Picked by AI")
• Notion → 95/100
• A random Notion template with good SEO → 70/100

The gap between "AI knows you" and "AI has no idea you exist" is massive. And most digital creators are on the wrong side of it.

4 Things I Learned Building This

1. AI recommendations are not random. They follow patterns — web presence, authority sources, community mentions. You can influence them.

2. Most creators score under 25. If you're selling digital products and haven't done any AI optimization, you're likely invisible.

3. The fix isn't hard, just unknown. Things like creating comparison content, getting mentioned in roundup articles, and having an llms.txt file actually move the needle.

4. This problem will only get bigger. AI search traffic is growing 500%+ year over year. The creators who figure this out early will have a massive advantage.

What Happened After Launch

Honest update: I launched 12 days ago. I have 1 real user (beta). I posted on Reddit (5.3K views, 1 conversion). My Twitter account got permanently banned because my AI agent auto-posted without my knowledge (lesson learned the hard way).

But here's the interesting part: I ran the tool on my own product again this week. Score jumped from 12 to 32 in 11 days.

What moved it: 13 blog posts, one Reddit thread that got 5.3K views, and 6 directory submissions. Perplexity now recognizes us in 8 out of 10 probes. ChatGPT still has no idea — but that was expected (training cutoff).

I asked 5 different AI models to evaluate my product. All 5 agreed:

• The idea is right (timing, market gap)
• The product works (clean UX, fast results)
• But I'm solving a problem people don't know they have yet

The biggest feedback: "You're giving a diagnosis but no prescription. When someone gets a score of 18, they feel bad and leave. Show them exactly what to do next."

What I'm Doing Now

I'm not building more features. I'm listening.

I'm onboarding 100 founders into the beta — first 100 get lifetime free access as we build. If you want to be part of this early, grab a spot here.

If you sell digital products (Gumroad, Etsy, Notion templates, online courses), I'd genuinely love your input:

1. Does "AI visibility" matter to you at all? Or is it too abstract compared to "how do I get more sales this month?"

2. If you checked your score and it was low — what would make you come back? What would you actually pay for?

3. Want me to check your product? Drop the name below and I'll run it for you.

The tool is free, no signup: pickedby.ai