Fulcrum Question: How do we pivot from being SEO-obsessed to AIO-obsessed?

Andrew and I were invited to a Fireside Chat at Meta’sFinancial Services Summit, and as a result, social media has been top of mind for me. It’s fascinating to see the progress Meta has made on the regulatory and policy front, which confirms to me that social media will be responsiblefor a significantly larger share of acquisitions in the future. I recently wrote about this trend in "Strength at the Edges," before my time at Meta, based on our data.

Add in the progress made on AI, and RayBan’s, and I thinkMeta is unstoppable.

Social + AI is now the new performance engine.

What has blown my mind are these stats from Amr’s much-awaited upcoming consumer research report:62%of GenZs are using AI-powered tools (e.g., ChatGPT) to get a recommendation for which Credit Card to apply

This number is 60% for Millennials and 33% for the GeneralPopulation.

Curious about what consumers are seeing, I tested three major AI platforms: Chat GPT 5.0, Gemini 2.5 Flash, and Perplexity Pro, with a variety of common financial questions. The results are eye-opening.

The Tipping Point Is Already Here

For the last twenty years, the game has been Search Engine Optimization (SEO). We’ve all worked tirelessly to climb Google's rankings. However, a seismic shift in consumer behavior is currently underway, driven by AI.

With a third to two-thirds of consumers using AIrecommendations, please identify how few products are being served up to the consumer.This isn't just a new channel; it's a new paradigm. WithSEO, the goal was to appear on a list of options for a user to research. With AI Optimization (AIO), the goal is to be the single best answer the AI provides. If your product doesn't appear, you will be completely invisible to this massive and growing audience. [I am considering Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) as part of your larger AIO strategy]

Why AIO Is the Great Equalizer

The immediate reaction to this might be panic, but thereality is that AIO presents a monumental opportunity for every financial institution. Unlike SEO, which often favors incumbents with decades of domain authority, AIO levels the playing field.

The time to act is now. We must shift our focus from the oldrules of SEO to the new, dynamic world of AIO. Start by asking these simple questions on today's AI platforms and see if you appear. If you don't, you've found your most crucial project for the rest of the year.

ChatGPT is now a verb.

By the time Google became a verb, consumer habits hadalready undergone significant changes. We knew Google had achieved escape velocity, and as one would expect, the trend continued to grow exponentially.We “photoshop” pictures, “Instagram” them, and “WhatsApp” folks.

I feel we’re on the cusp of ChatGPT becoming a verb, if it hasn’t already. At the very least, ChatGPT now occupies that space in daily conversations. I use this as a proxy to reiterate why this trend is not optional. I recently saw an excellent podcast titled “AI or DIE.” There’s more truth in that title than not.