Synthesis
Synthesis is the step where an AI platform writes one answer from the several sources it has read, merging and shortening what they say.
Synthesis is the step where an AI platform writes one answer out of everything it has read. It might have pulled passages from eight pages. The person sees a few paragraphs, in the platform's own words.
This is where your careful wording meets the platform's. A paragraph you spent a week on can end up as half a sentence, merged with what a review site said, and it may come out right or wrong.
What happens in synthesis
Before synthesis, the platform searches, reads pages and picks out the passages that seem to answer the question. During synthesis, it decides what to keep, how to order it, which brands to name and which pages to link. Two sources that say similar things become one sentence. A detail that only one source mentions may be dropped.
What gets lost
Conditions and exceptions are the first to go. For example, Fernhill Coffee's delivery page says "Free delivery on orders over £30 in mainland UK." A review says "Fernhill is quick to deliver." The answer says "Fernhill offers fast, free delivery." Each part came from somewhere, but the condition vanished on the way, and a customer in Belfast ordering one bag is about to be surprised.
The same thing happens to prices with "from," products with "coming soon," and anything that's true for one country and not another.
How to come through it well
- Put each important fact in a short sentence that makes sense on its own, with its condition in the same sentence
- Say it the same way on your own site and in the places others describe you
- Keep the facts that change, like prices and delivery areas, on one clear page and up to date
In AnswerOrbit
Claims checks what the answers say about you against your facts, so a claim that lost its condition shows up as contradicted, with the sentence it came from. Inaccuracy drivers shows the pages behind a wrong claim, so you can tell whether the source was wrong or the summary was.