What is a topic in AIQ?
A topic in AIQ is the unit of analysis: a tracked subject, a brand, person, product, or theme, defined by a set of prompts, a peer set, and optional tags. The same prompts and peers run against the eight AI engines AIQ currently tracks daily, so the results are directly comparable across models.
A topic is the unit of analysis inside AIQ. It bundles a subject with everything needed to track how AI engines describe it, and it is the object every AIQ view is organized around.
What a topic is made of
When a user sets up a topic, they define four things:
- Subject, the entity being tracked: a brand, executive, product, or theme.
- Prompts, the specific questions the AI engines will be asked about that subject.
- Peer set, the named comparators the same prompts are run against, so the subject can be benchmarked directly.
- Tags, optional labels for filtering and organizing topics across a portfolio.
Why this produces comparable data
The same prompts and the same peer set run against the eight AI engines AIQ currently tracks: ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, Perplexity, Claude, Grok, Google AI Overviews, and Google AI Mode, on a daily schedule. Because the inputs are held constant across every engine and every day, the resulting data is directly comparable: differences in the output reflect differences between the engines, not differences in how each was asked.
How many topics a brand runs
Most clients run between three and ten topics per brand, with separate topics for the corporate brand, key executives, key products, and any active issue.
Last reviewed: 19/05/2026
