How do AI models decide which sources to trust about a company?

The trust signals AI engines weight are stable across most models: Wikipedia and its citations, mainstream news outlets (Reuters, Bloomberg, FT, WSJ, New York Times, Washington Post and their international equivalents), government and academic domains (.gov, .edu, regulator websites, peer-reviewed sources), the brand’s own official website when it has clean structured data and clear authorship, Wikidata entries with sourced statements, and domains that were frequently cited within the engine’s training corpus. The implication for a reputation program is that the leverage points are concentrated in a relatively small set of sources, and improving those sources moves the engines. The implication for a content program is that publishing into your own blog without third-party authority signals or structured data is unlikely to influence AI engines no matter how much volume is produced.