Learn · When things go wrong
What do I do when AI gets my business wrong?
Find out where the wrong fact comes from, fix it there, and then tell the AI assistant.
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A sample, traced
Trace the wrong fact to where it lives.
In the sample, an AI assistant says a business is permanently closed. Asked where it got that, it points to a map listing marked closed after a move, while the business's own website says open, Tuesday to Saturday. The owner fixes the listing, then reports the answer, and the answer reads open.
Sample: a made-up business marked closed. Not a real business.
- 1 of 5It gets you wrong.It says you are closed when you are open.
- 2 of 5Ask where it came from.Type "Where did you get that?" or open the sources it shows.
- 3 of 5Find the source.Often a listing marked "permanently closed" after a move.
- 4 of 5Fix it there.Google Maps and Apple Maps both let owners fix this directly.
- 5 of 5Report the answer.Say plainly what is wrong and what is right. Live answers change when the sources change.
The answer
Find out where the wrong fact comes from, fix it there, and then tell the AI assistant. Ask it "Where did you get that?" or look at the sources it shows. Most wrong answers trace back to a listing that is out of date, a similar business with a similar name, or facts missing from your own website. Fix your own site and your Google, Apple and Bing listings first, correct the stale listing, and use the AI assistant's feedback button to report the answer. Live answers change when the sources change.
Key points
- Ask the AI assistant where it got the fact. Many will tell you or show links.
- The usual causes: a stale listing, a similar name, a listing wrongly marked closed, or facts missing from your site.
- Fix the source first. Reporting the answer without fixing the source rarely lasts.
- Use the feedback buttons: a thumbs down with a short note of what is wrong.
- Check again next month with the same question.
What AI assistants commonly get wrong
- Closed when you are open. Often from a listing marked "permanently closed" after a move.
- Old hours or an old phone number. From a directory nobody updated.
- The wrong business. Someone with a similar name in another town or state.
- Services you do not offer. Guessed from your category, or from an old page.
- The wrong town. From a P.O. box, a mailing address, or where the business was registered.
Why it happens
An AI assistant answers from what it learned in training and from what it reads live. Training can be months or years old. Live reading picks up whatever sources it finds, and if those disagree, or your own site is missing the fact, it fills the gap with the best source it has, which may be the wrong one.
How to fix it
- Ask where it came from. Type "Where did you get that?" or open the sources the AI assistant shows.
- Fix your own website first. Make sure the right fact is on the page as plain text, and in your structured data.
- Fix your Google, Apple and Bing listings. These feed Google's AI, Siri and Copilot directly. See Google Business Profile and AI.
- Fix the stale source. Claim the directory listing that is wrong and correct it, or send a correction.
- If a listing says you are closed, correct it on Google Maps and Apple Maps first; both let owners fix this directly.
- If you are being mixed up with another business, state your full name, town and state clearly on your site, and link your official social pages from it.
- Report the answer. Use the AI assistant's thumbs-down or feedback button and say plainly what is wrong and what is right.
- Check again next month with the same question.
When Google writes a wrong description of you
Owners report summaries of their business on Google that they did not write and cannot edit. The fix is the same as for any wrong answer: find the source it was drawn from, and fix it there.
In one case shared on a public forum for local search, a custom bridal studio was summed up as selling off the rack. The wrong words traced back to a low-quality directory listing. Fixing that listing, and saying plainly on your own site what you do, is the work.
BeargrassAI Scout reads which pages AI answers are drawn from, every month, so a source like that shows up. See Scout.
How to tell each AI assistant
- ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, Copilot and Meta AI: use the thumbs-down or feedback button on the answer, and write one line: what is wrong and what is right.
- Perplexity: look at the sources it cites; fixing the source is what changes the answer.
- Google's AI answers in Search: use the feedback link on the answer, and fix your Google Business Profile.
- Siri and Apple Maps: fix your listing in Apple Business Connect, or use "Report an issue" in Apple Maps.
Where it fits
Where Validated.Directory fits
Your Validated.Directory record states your facts, read from your own website, with the date you confirmed them. When an AI assistant says something wrong about you, the record is a current, dated source it can read. If the record is right and an AI assistant is not, write to support with what you asked, what it answered and which AI assistant said it, and a person will look.
Questions
- Can I call OpenAI or Google to fix a wrong answer?
- There is no phone line for that. Use the feedback buttons, and fix the sources the answer came from.
- How long until the answer changes?
- It depends on the source. Live search sees a fix the next time it reads the page. What a model learned in training changes only when it is trained again. Fixing the live sources is the part you control.
- It says we are closed. What is the fastest fix?
- Check Google Maps, Apple Maps and the review sites for a listing marked closed and correct it, then make sure your website shows your current hours.
- It keeps mixing us up with a business in another state. What helps?
- Put your full business name, town and state on every page, in your structured data, and on every listing, and link your official social pages from your website.
Validated.Directory, by BeargrassAI. Columbia Falls, Montana. Written 2026-09-25.
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