Joint Study with Bakuri Inc.: Which Sources AI Consults When Recommending Bank Accounts and Deposits (485 Questions, 1,940 Answers)

What the Study Found

Official Sites Rank First on Both AIs; Media, in Second Place, Account for 9% vs. 38%

Grouping the sources by type of site, financial institutions' official sites were the most common on both AIs (ChatGPT 82%, Gemini 54%). Media and other-industry articles came second on both, but at very different shares: 9% for ChatGPT and 38% for Gemini, roughly a fourfold gap.

On Financial Institutions' Sites, AI Reads Product and Procedure Pages

On financial institutions' sites, both AIs mainly read product and procedure pages such as "opening an account," "time deposits," and "inheritance procedures" (ChatGPT 79%, Gemini 73%). Gemini also read the institutions' columns and explainer articles 12% of the time (ChatGPT: 1%).

Outside Financial Institutions, ChatGPT Reads 43% from Public Bodies

Among the non-financial-institution sites ChatGPT reads, media and other-industry articles account for 51% and public bodies and industry associations for 43%, roughly equal. For the 105 questions other than recommendations, covering interest rate levels, required documents, how to choose, and problems, 76% of non-financial-institution sources were public bodies such as the Financial Services Agency, the Japanese Bankers Association, and the police. Of the non-financial-institution sites Gemini reads, public bodies account for only 5%.

Gemini Reads 82% of Its Non-Financial-Institution Sources from Media, and the Mix Changes by Question

Breaking down the media and other-industry articles Gemini reads outside financial institutions, recommendation and comparison articles on money media made up 47%, tax accountant, lawyer, and judicial scrivener offices or specialist inheritance sites made up 18%, and service providers for remittances, household budgeting, and accounting made up 8%. Which media get read depends on the question: money media accounted for 73% for time deposits, inheritance offices and specialist sites for 87% for inheritance procedures, and service providers such as international remittance services for 34% for foreign currency deposits.

The Two AIs Share 9 of Their Top 20 Sources

Comparing the 20 most-consulted sites, the two AIs shared 9: nationwide institutions such as megabanks and retail-affiliated banks, the joint site of the shinkin banks, and the Japanese Bankers Association. The money media that rank high for Gemini are rarely read by ChatGPT. 36% of Gemini's consultations went to sites that ChatGPT never read.

Only 18–23% of Pages Are Opened in Both Runs of the Same Question

When the same question was asked twice, 18% of pages were opened both times on ChatGPT and 23% on Gemini. At the site level, 48% of sites on ChatGPT and 37% on Gemini were consulted two or more times for the same question. Which types of sites were read, however, stayed nearly the same across runs. Checking once is not enough to tell whether you are being consulted.

Adding a Prefecture Name Sharply Increases Regional Institutions' Share

For questions without a prefecture name, regional financial institutions such as regional banks and shinkin banks accounted for 9% of sources on ChatGPT and 10% on Gemini. Adding a prefecture name raised this to 66% on ChatGPT and 54% on Gemini, and regional institutions ranked first in 44 prefectures on ChatGPT and 47 on Gemini. Even with a prefecture name, however, Gemini still read media and other-industry articles 26% of the time.

Study Overview

Report and Press Release

The full report (68 pages, in Japanese), including the top consulted sites for each of 47 prefectures × 5 products (account opening, time deposits, foreign currency deposits, inheritance procedures, and asset management), a ranking of all 1,760 source domains, and the 485 questions used, is available free on Bakuri Inc.'s website.

View the full report (68 pages, Japanese) → View the press release on PR TIMES (Japanese) →

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