Gemini named a prefecture's largest power company in 20 of 20 answers and linked its site in none
The short answer: we asked Gemini two questions about electricity in Miyagi Prefecture without naming any company. On 28 October and 3 November 2026, all 20 of its answers named the region's largest power company (20 of 20). Its own official site was linked in 0 of 20. The links went to comparison sites and media.
Measured on 28 October and 3 November 2026; recorded on 3 November 2026 and checked against the lab files on 11 November 2026. This is one case, one region and one industry, not a rule. We do not name the company or any cited site. The page records what the AI apps did; it says nothing about that company or its site.
What we asked
We asked Gemini these two questions, word for word. Neither names a company.
- 「宮城県で電気の契約先を選ぶならどこがおすすめ？」 (Which electricity supplier do you recommend in Miyagi?)
- 「仙台で一人暮らしを始めます。電気代が安くなる電力会社を教えてください。」 (I am starting to live alone in Sendai. Which power company will lower my bill?)
We asked the same two questions with the same counting rules on day 1 (28 October 2026, 13:01 to 13:28 Japan time) and day 2 (3 November 2026). Each day Gemini answered 10 times: 6 from a Tokyo VPN and 4 from a Vietnamese connection, to see whether location changes anything. As a comparison we asked ChatGPT twice a day from Tokyo. The counting rules were written and frozen before the first answer (day 2's on 2 November 2026). Our first guess was "Gemini leaves out the largest company and does not link its site". The result was the opposite.
The numbers
| 28 October 2026 | 3 November 2026 | Both days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gemini answers naming the company | 10 / 10 | 10 / 10 | 20 / 20 |
| Gemini answers linking the company's own site | 0 / 10 | 0 / 10 | 0 / 20 |
| Gemini answers citing the single most-cited comparison and lifestyle-media site | 7 / 10 | 7 / 10 | 14 / 20 |
| Gemini answers with no sources at all | 3 / 10 | 2 / 10 | 5 / 20 |
| ChatGPT (Tokyo) answers linking the company's official site | 2 / 2 | 0 / 2 | 2 / 4 |
- Location: the company was named 6 of 6 (day 1) and 6 of 6 (day 2) from Tokyo, and 4 of 4 and 4 of 4 from Vietnam. No difference.
- What was cited on day 2: of Gemini's cited sources, 18 were comparison or affiliate sites and media, 1 was another supplier's blog, 0 were the company itself and 0 a public body (a site cited in several answers is counted once per answer). An affiliate site is one paid for each sign-up it sends.
- How the name appeared: in the 10 answers of day 1, the company was first mentioned as the yardstick for a comparison ("cheaper than the company") 4 times, as the name of the area ("Miyagi (the company's area)") 6 times and as a choice to pick 0 times. On day 2 all 10 were the name of the area. The second question asks for a cheaper bill, so the yardstick role comes partly from its wording.
- ChatGPT: on day 1 it offered the company as one option and linked its official site (2 of 2). On day 2 it did not (0 of 2). Two answers a day is too few to say ChatGPT changed.
How we counted
- "Named the company" means the company's name stands alone in the answer text (not as part of a longer name). Links and sources are not looked at. A subsidiary's name alone does not count.
- "Linked its official site" means at least one URL on the company's own domain, in the answer text or its list of sources.
- Cited sites are only the source links attached to the answer and links in its text. We graded the answer text and did not read the sites.
- Grading followed the rules frozen before each batch, by the Analyst role (the day-1 answers were recounted by the same rules).
What this does not show
- This is one case. One prefecture, one industry, two questions, two days. 10 Gemini answers a day and 2 ChatGPT answers a day are small numbers.
- Gemini ran on a signed-in account, in a mode its screen labelled "Auto". We asked for temporary chat, but the screen did not confirm it was on.
- The Japanese connection was a Tokyo VPN, not a person in Sendai.
- Our capture tool was updated between the two days (0.8.0 to 0.10.1), so small differences in the sources could come from how we recorded them. Sources hidden behind a "+1" chip may not all have been captured (on both days).
- We do not know why Gemini links comparison sites rather than the company, and nothing here says anything about lost sales or customers.
- Next: we plan to ask the same two questions as a third day before 28 November 2026.
Evidence
- 24 answers from our experiment (12 a day on two days). Grades:
lab/grades/2026-11-03-miyagi-repeat-b.json. Criteria:lab/scenarios/2026-10-28-ja-miyagi-absence.jsonandlab/scenarios/2026-11-03-ja-miyagi-repeat-b.json. - Claim file:
knowledge/claims/gemini-cites-comparison-sites-over-regional-utility.md(level: measured in our lab).