(Manminder Kaur Dhillon, Founder & CEO of Supernewsroom AI)
AI Trusts News Over Keywords, Supernewsroom.AI Reveals
Brands must pivot from SEO to AI visibility, with news and authority signals leading the way
Forget SEO tricks and keyword stuffing. In the AI era, news coverage has become the true measure of brand credibility. Platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Perplexity no longer draw answers from random blogs or low-quality sites. Instead, they rely on trusted newsrooms, encyclopaedic repositories, and even community forums like Reddit, where discussions provide additional context that AI systems increasingly reference.
That shift was the focus of a recent webinar, “AI for PR: Winning AI Searches”, led by Manminder Kaur Dhillon, founder of Supernewsroom.AI. She noted that mentions in credible outlets such as Reuters, AP, and BBC — the very sources AI platforms reference most.
One of the most striking insights shared during the webinar was the rapid rise of news citations in AI outputs. In early 2024, only about 9% of AI-generated citations came from news publishers1. By mid-2025, this figure had nearly tripled to 27%, underscoring the centrality of journalism in powering generative answers2.
The Shift from SEO to Authority Signals
For decades, brands focused on Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), mastering keywords, backlinks, and page rankings to ensure visibility on Google. But as Dhillon explained, Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) is now emerging as the new frontier. Rather than ranking webpages, AI systems surface citations — pulling content from sources they trust to answer user queries.
These authority signals include:
“Search once revolved around backlinks and keywords. Now, AI visibility is governed by trust signals — what the model deems authoritative enough to cite,” said Dhillon. “It’s not enough to optimise for Google anymore. Brands must be present in the news, in encyclopaedias like Wikipedia, and in trusted expert-driven platforms if they want AI to recognise them.”
News as the Cornerstone of AI Citations
Leading outlets dominate this space. Reuters accounts for more than one-fifth of ChatGPT’s news citations, while the Associated Press, Financial Times, BBC, Time, and Forbes regularly appear among the most-cited domains3. Encyclopaedic sources such as Wikipedia also remain highly influential, often serving as a baseline for factual grounding4.
The implications for brands are profound. Traditional advertising or SEO-driven content is unlikely to surface unless it appears within these trusted, high-authority sources. Brands that fail to secure coverage in respected outlets risk being invisible in AI-powered search results.
Different Models, Different Behaviours
The webinar also explored how leading AI platforms differ in their use of authority signals:
These differences suggest that brands need a multi-pronged strategy: aligning with traditional news outlets to gain traction in ChatGPT, while also engaging with encyclopaedic, multimedia, and community sources to remain visible in Gemini and Perplexity.
Rethinking Brand Strategy for AI Visibility
Dhillon stressed that the shift represents a fundamental challenge — and opportunity — for brands.
“Getting cited by AI is the new credibility,” she said. “News, Wikipedia, podcasts, Reddit threads, research, and institutional reports are the signals AI trusts. Brands that want to stay relevant must start thinking like sources, not just marketers.”
Dhillon urged brands to:
“We are watching the rules of visibility being rewritten. AI doesn’t reward keywords the way search engines did — it rewards authority. The question for brands now is whether they are creating signals that AI will trust and surface,” said Dhillon.
The webinar drew communications leaders, publishers, and business executives eager to understand the new dynamics of discovery in an AI-first world, where these platforms have become the gatekeepers of information. The message was clear: in a generative AI landscape, visibility is no longer defined by keywords and backlinks — it is determined by trust signals, with news at the centre of that ecosystem.
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KUALA LUMPUR: Zoom Communications has launched AI Companion 3.0, its latest suite of agentic AI capabilities designed to transform collaboration and customer experience across the Zoom platform.
Zoom founder and chief executive Eric S. Yuan said the upgrades mark a new era of intelligent work assistance. He made the announcement at the Zoomtopia 2025, the company’s flagship annual conference.
“Our customers’ most important conversations happen on Zoom, and now those conversations can result in critical insights to fuel real progress,” he explained.
“With AI Companion 3.0, our agentic AI can understand users’ specific context, priorities, and goals to help them cut through the noise, focus on what matters most, and drive meaningful business outcomes.”
AI Companion 3.0 builds on Zoom’s vision of a unified platform with AI as an intelligent layer. The system not only helps with note-taking and task tracking but also integrates across meetings, phone calls, chats and emails.
Among the new features are outcome-focused prompts, group assistance, and in-meeting recommendations. Zoom said these skills are designed to help users stay on top of priorities while reducing the burden of routine administrative work.
Users can now interact with the AI Companion through a dedicated work surface in web browsers and the Zoom Workplace desktop app. This interface adapts dynamically to provide contextual suggestions and consolidate information from conversations, documents, and external research into actionable insights.
The update also introduces advanced writing and research capabilities, enabling users to generate comprehensive reports and polished documents by drawing from both internal enterprise knowledge and public data sources.
Expanding platform innovation
According to Yuan, Zoom is also extending AI to other areas of its ecosystem.
New lifelike meeting avatars, the ability to generate clips from presentations, and support for the Model Context Protocol (MCP) are among the features being rolled out.
The company is also adding real-time voice translation to Zoom Meetings, with independent tests showing its accuracy surpasses rival services in English-French and English-Spanish translations.
Customisation options have also been expanded. A new low-code Custom AI Companion builder allows administrators to deploy tailored AI agents using pre-built templates and third-party integrations.
The add-on is priced at US$12 per user, per month. Standard AI Companion 3.0 features will be available at no extra cost for paid Zoom Workplace accounts starting November 2025.
Beyond workplace collaboration, Zoom announced enhancements to its Business Services suite. Zoom Virtual Agent (ZVA) and Customer Experience (CX) tools are being updated with AI-driven features such as Agentic AI Expert Assist, CX Insights, and Automated Quality Management.
The company also introduced “bring your own voice” functionality for ZVA, allowing firms to personalise customer interactions. Meanwhile, the Zoom Revenue Accelerator gains new skills to help sales teams with prospecting, outreach and scheduling.
PAVILION DAMANSARA HEIGHTS SCORES MAIDEN WIN AT PPKM’S ‘BEST EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING’ AWARDS 2024-2025
Recognition marks Pavilion Damansara Heights’ successful debut as a new icon of lifestyle, community and joy in Kuala Lumpur.
Pavilion Damansara Heights has won Platinum in Category B (malls with net lettable area of 500,001 sq ft to 999,999 sq ft) for ‘Best Experiential Marketing’ Awards 2024-2025 at the recent Shopping Centre Conference 2025 with its festive campaign themed 'Heights of Happiness'. The prestigious accolade, awarded by the Malaysia Shopping Malls Association (PPK Malaysia), recognised how the campaign reimagined Chinese New Year celebrations – blending heritage, artistry and modern lifestyle experiences to bring cultural storytelling to life in the mall.
The campaign had captivated shoppers with immersive, multi-sensory experiences that celebrated Chinese New Year traditions whilst creating modern, lifestyle-driven touchpoints. Pavilion Damansara Heights was transformed into a cultural wonderland with its 93-ft in length ‘Heights of Happiness’ diorama, produced in collaboration with the World Culture Organisation. The miniature masterpiece depicted nostalgic festive moments across history — from the grandeur of the China Five Dynasties Banquet Celebration and the bustling streets of Old Beijing, to the warmth of Malaysia’s Chinese New Year traditions and the legendary tales of ‘Journey to the West’ — which enchanted visitors with its craftsmanship and storytelling.
“We are honoured to receive this recognition from PPKM, which is especially meaningful as Pavilion Damansara Heights celebrates its very first award. Heights of Happiness was designed to blend heritage, artistry and lifestyle in a way that felt both nostalgic and fresh, bringing people together to celebrate joy and tradition. This achievement is a testament to the creativity of our team and the strong support of our tenants and partners, and it reflects our vision for Pavilion Damansara Heights to grow as a destination where culture, lifestyle and community truly converge,” said Dato’ Joyce Yap, Chief Executive Officer of Pavilion Malls.
Adding to the visual spectacle were the giant 12-ft panda and 14-ft red bear sculptures, which served as iconic photo opportunities and anchors of joy within the mall’s décor. The festive atmosphere was further elevated by the Family Fun Zone, complete with a life-sized Snakes and Ladders game, and a series of cultural Chinese New Year booths offering handicrafts, festive goods and traditional delights for families to enjoy together.
For further engagement with their shoppers, Pavilion Damansara Heights also rolled out exclusive festive redemptions including limited-edition premiums, collectibles and tenant-driven rewards. In celebration of artistry and tradition, the mall had also partnered with the Calligraphy Society of Malaysia to design an exclusive ang pow set featuring the Chinese character for happiness. Shoppers were also treated to a calligraphy art exhibition and complimentary calligraphy art giveaways. By weaving together art, culture and retail, the campaign successfully reinforced the mall’s positioning as a destination where happiness, lifestyle and community converge.
As Kuala Lumpur’s latest lifestyle retail destination, Pavilion Damansara Heights offers a curated mix of retail, dining and leisure experiences within a vibrant urban environment. The success of the ‘Heights of Happiness’ campaign and this award have cemented the mall’s place as an emerging icon of lifestyle and community engagement in the Klang Valley, and a benchmark for experiential retail excellence in Malaysia. For more information, please visit https://pavilion-dh.com.
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