What you can't see
- The questions buyers ask. OpenAI doesn't share conversations with advertisers.
- Which answers mentioned you, unless you track them yourself.
- Many AI visits' source: a large share arrive without a referrer and look like direct traffic.
What you can see
- What AI says. Track a fixed set of buyer questions every day and record who gets named.
- AI visits. ChatGPT tags links with utm_source=chatgpt.com, and GA4 groups AI assistants in their own channel since May 2026.
- The companies. Company identification names the organisations behind those visits.
- What buyers say. Add "How did you hear about us?" with "ChatGPT or another AI assistant" as an option.
A simple monthly dark-funnel report
| Signal | This month | Last month |
|---|---|---|
| Share of answers (20 questions) | ||
| AI visits | ||
| Companies identified from AI | ||
| Leads naming AI as the source |
Make the dark funnel a little lighter
- Ask "Where did you first hear about us?" on every first call, and log the answer.
- Add AI assistants as an option on forms.
- Track a fixed set of buyer questions every day.
- Review direct traffic to deep pages monthly.
Questions
Will we ever see what buyers typed?
No. And that's by design: OpenAI says it doesn't share conversations with advertisers.
Is the AI dark funnel big?
In one April 2026 snapshot, AI search was 0.7% of sessions, with many more visits hidden in direct traffic. Its influence on decisions is larger than its share of visits suggests.
What's the first step?
Ask AI your buyers' questions this week and write down who it names.
Why the AI dark funnel is different
Older dark-funnel channels, such as podcasts and communities, influenced buyers who then searched for you. AI conversations can skip that step: the assistant names vendors directly and links to them, or the buyer goes straight to a vendor's site by typing its name. Influence and action happen in the same place, and you see only the end of it.
Treat AI answers as a channel you can work on
You can't see conversations, but you can see answers to typical questions. Tracking them turns part of the dark funnel into something measurable and improvable.
Start here: ChatGPT ads for ABM. More articles in ABM and AI ads.