A footnoted or inline reference to a source that an AI system uses in producing an answer. Citations are typically visible in Perplexity, Copilot and Google AI Overviews, and inferable in ChatGPT and Claude.
A footnoted or inline reference to a source that an AI system uses in producing an answer. Citations are typically visible in Perplexity, Copilot and Google AI Overviews, and inferable in ChatGPT and Claude.
Citation provenance is a leading indicator of AI Discovery health. The publishers that cite you, and how often, is what AI systems learn from.
This term is part of the canonical AI Discovery vocabulary, published in the Body of Knowledge alongside the Eight Discovery Signals and The Methodology Handbook. The full glossary contains 56 terms — the operative vocabulary for AI Discovery practitioners.
Practitioners certified through Certified™ are tested on the AI Discovery vocabulary. This glossary is the institutional reference.
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