Media Release: AI now deciding which healthcare brands Australians see online

media release

• New Cube research benchmarked the AI visibility of 55 pharmaceutical and biotech companies and analysed more than 12,500 AI-generated health-related responses.
• Across those responses, AI platforms generated nearly 120,000 mentions of treatments, whether it be brand, generic and/or therapeutic classes.
• Australians are increasingly using AI platforms for health information, higher among 18-24 year olds and those with lower health literacy.
• The report warns AI platforms are increasingly mediating how healthcare information, treatments and brands are surfaced and evaluated online.

Sydney, 19th May: A new Australian report has revealed AI platforms are increasingly shaping which healthcare companies, treatments and brands are surfaced to patients and healthcare professionals online.

The findings, released in Cube’s AI Visibility Index Report, suggest pharmaceutical and biotech companies are facing a new communications challenge: becoming invisible inside AI-generated answers as traditional search continues to lose visibility and influence.

The report comes amid rapidly accelerating adoption of AI for health information globally and in Australia, with OpenAI estimating one in four ChatGPT users ask health-related questions each week, representing more than 40 million daily health-related interactions globally.

The report found AI visibility is highly concentrated among a relatively small number of organisations, despite AI-generated health-related responses frequently referencing treatments and brands. While some companies appeared consistently across AI-generated answers, many established healthcare organisations showed limited visibility or did not appear at all.

Bonnie Leibel, Senior Director and Head of Digital at Cube, said the findings point to a fundamental shift in how healthcare discovery now occurs online.

“Organisations are no longer only competing for search rankings. They are increasingly competing to be visible within AI-generated answers,” Bonnie said.

“Becoming invisible at the exact moment patients, consumers and healthcare professionals are seeking information within AI platforms is a very real risk for the healthcare sector.”

The report combines two distinct research approaches. The first benchmarked AI visibility across 55 pharmaceutical and biotech companies operating in Australia, examining how often companies appear across AI-generated answers. This analysis found more than 154 million estimated monthly audience exposures across topics where pharmaceutical companies were mentioned.

The second involved building a custom analysis platform to examine how leading large language models surface and recommend health information, treatments and brands across different audience contexts. Across more than 12,500 AI-generated responses analysed, the report identified nearly 120,000 treatment, brand and therapeutic class mentions.

The research identified major differences in AI model behaviour across therapy areas. In CNS related prompts, depression queries generated more cautious and non-commercial responses, while ADHD and insomnia-related questions were significantly more likely to feature branded medicines names.

The analysis showed the responses frequently prioritised generic medicines and therapeutic classes over branded treatments in patient-facing contexts. However, recommendation behaviour shifted significantly when prompts suggested the user was a healthcare professional.

The report also found AI models respond very differently depending on the platform, audience type and how questions are framed, creating a more fragmented and less predictable information environment than traditional search.

The report outlines several strategic implications for healthcare organisations, including the need to strengthen structured digital content, improve visibility across trusted third-party health information ecosystems, and build stronger authority signals relied on by AI models when generating healthcare responses.

Bonnie said the findings also raise important questions around health information quality and misinformation within AI environments.

“This is not about manipulating AI systems or bypassing regulation. It is about ensuring accurate, evidence-based health information is visible when patients and consumers increasingly turn to AI platforms for answers,” Bonnie said.

“AI can both reduce and amplify misinformation depending on the quality of the information it retrieves and synthesises. That creates a significant opportunity for trusted healthcare organisations and advocacy groups to help shape more reliable health information environments.”

The findings were presented at the BioPharmaDispatch (BPD) Insights Conference on 18 May 2026 and form part of Cube’s broader work examining how AI is reshaping healthcare visibility, discovery and communications.

Explore the AI Visibility Index Report