What the 2026 Logistics AI Visibility Studies Show, and What They Do Not
Michael Etheredge is VP of Product Development at QuestionFuel, where he leads how the firm measures and corrects the way AI answer engines describe companies. He was featured by the Southern Economic Development Council on how AI is changing the way companies research communities and regions.
A logistics marketing agency has published an index of AI visibility across 127 logistics companies, and it reports that freight brokerage scored lowest. Before a brokerage reacts to that number, it helps to know what the index measures, what it leaves out, and which other sources can and cannot support the same conclusion.
Key takeaways
- The most specific 2026 study of AI visibility in logistics is an index from a logistics marketing agency that sells visibility services.
- The index reports a 6% median visibility score for freight brokerage, the lowest of six segments, but its prompt set and scoring are not published in full.
- The only shipper survey we found on what shippers weigh predates the AI studies and was sponsored by a factoring company.
- We found no primary research on how shippers use answer engines to choose a broker or carrier.
Quick answer: The most specific 2026 study of AI visibility in logistics is an agency index that puts freight brokerage lowest of six segments, at 6%. It is a useful starting signal, but its method is not fully published and its author sells visibility services. We found no study showing how shippers use answer engines to choose a broker.
What does the logistics AI visibility index measure?
The Logistics AI Search Visibility Index, or LASVI, comes from The Robinson Agency, a logistics marketing firm. In an April 13, 2026 article, the agency reported testing 127 logistics companies across six segments: freight brokers, third party logistics firms, carriers, forwarders, freight tech, and warehousing. It says it ran more than 500 prompts across several answer engines, including ChatGPT, and scored each company on AI visibility.
The reported medians are 22% for freight tech, 15% for forwarding, 12% for third party logistics, 9% for carriers, and 6% for freight brokerage. The agency also reports that 38% of companies scored below 5%, and that only 16% of companies in its sample were doing anything deliberate to appear in AI search. Those figures come from the agency's own write up. We did not see the underlying prompt list or scoring rules, so we cannot check how a company's score was calculated.
AI Narrative Drift: the gap between what is currently true about a company or place and what answer engines say about it, because those answers update slowly and imperfectly when facts change.
A visibility score measures whether a company appears in answers. It does not measure whether the description is accurate. That is a separate question, and it is the one a brokerage should ask after the score. See how drift is tested.
What else is in the research?
Four sources are worth knowing. The table shows what each one measured and where it stops.
| Source | Published | What it measured | What it suggests for logistics | Limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Robinson Agency, LASVI | April 2026 | 500+ prompts across 127 logistics companies | Freight brokerage scored lowest of six segments | Agency sells visibility services; method not fully published |
| The Robinson Agency, brokerage follow up | 2026 | Brokerage specific prompts across several answer engines | Different engines gave different broker shortlists for the same shipper profile | Dozens of prompts, single runs, no published counts |
| Denim with Peerless Research Group | June 2025 | About 100 shippers on what they value in freight partners | 67% named service level and reliability as the top factor, and 10% named price first | Small sample; sponsored by a factoring company; not about AI |
| Truckstop and Bloomberg Intelligence | August 2026 | Market conditions for brokers and carriers | Context on rates and capacity, not shipper behavior | Not about AI or selection |
The Denim survey is the only research we found that asks shippers what they weigh. It is useful for what a brokerage's public record should contain: lanes, equipment, coverage, and service commitments. It is not evidence that shippers use AI answers, and it predates the 2026 studies.
We also looked at a 2026 G2 survey, which reported that 51% of B2B software buyers start research with an AI chatbot. That survey is about software buyers, so we do not use it for logistics.
What do the agency's brokerage examples show?
The agency's follow up post reports that when it asked several answer engines for freight brokers for the same shipper profile, the lists differed. In its examples, one major broker appeared in one engine's list but not another's, and the order changed from one engine to the next. That is consistent with what the wider research on answer variation describes: answers change by engine and by repeat.
The examples are not a measurement. They come from single runs, the post does not give counts, and the agency does not say how many repeats it used. The honest reading is that variation is plausible and worth testing, not that any particular brokerage is systematically invisible.
What do these studies not tell you?
They do not tell you whether shippers use AI answers to choose a broker or carrier. We found no primary research on that question.
They do not tell you how often a given brokerage appears, because the published figures are medians across a sample, and the sample was selected by the agency.
They do not establish cause. The agency describes a link between publishing depth and visibility, and the broader research supports the idea that a clear public record matters. But a correlation in a single study is not proof that publishing more will change a score.
The agency's post also makes claims we could not check, including a near zero relationship between brokerage revenue and visibility. Without the method, we would not repeat that claim.
How should a brokerage use these numbers?
Treat the 6% figure as a reason to look, not as a diagnosis of your company. The useful step is to run the same questions yourself, several times, and compare each answer with your own published record. The seven question checklist in Seven Questions to Ask AI About Your Freight Brokerage gives a method for doing that.
Then ask whether the public record gives an answer engine enough to describe your lanes, equipment, coverage, and service levels accurately. If it does not, that gap matters more than the score.
When is an industry score not the right guide?
It is not the right guide when your own record is thin, because the score then reflects the absence of material rather than a choice a shipper makes. It is also not the right guide for a niche carrier or broker whose customers come through existing relationships. In both cases, start with your own facts.
Frequently asked questions
Is freight brokerage really the least visible segment in AI answers?
The agency's index says so, with a median of 6% across the companies it sampled. We have not verified that finding, and the sample and scoring are the agency's. Treat it as one source's report.
Should a brokerage spend money because of this study?
Not on the strength of the study alone. A brokerage can test its own visibility at low cost first. A paid program is worth considering only after you know what the answers say and which facts are missing.
Does the Denim survey show that shippers use AI?
No. The survey asked shippers what they value in a freight partner. It did not ask how they research partners, and it was sponsored by a factoring company.
Will more publishing make an answer engine recommend us?
No one can promise that. Publishing accurate, specific content gives answer engines more to draw on. Whether a given engine uses it, and how it describes you, is outside your control and changes over time.
Sources and references
- •The Robinson Agency, The AI Search Reckoning: What 127 Logistics Companies Taught Us About Where B2B Buyers Are Actually Going, April 13, 2026
- •The Robinson Agency, The Brokerage AI Visibility Crisis: Dead Last at 6%, 2026
- •Denim with Peerless Research Group, Freight survey reveals what shippers really want from brokers and carriers, June 17, 2025
- •Truckstop and Bloomberg Intelligence, 2026 freight survey, H1: broker rates up, carriers cautious, August 14, 2026
- •G2, New G2 Research: Half of B2B Software Buyers Now Start Their Research With AI Chatbots, April 15, 2026
Related reading: Seven Questions to Ask AI About Your Freight Brokerage, and What to Check in Each Answer · How to Audit AI Narrative Drift · Why Your Company Might Be Invisible to AI, Even If Your SEO Is Perfect