Short answer

When an AI says something false about your company (an old price, a service you no longer offer, a wrong address, a merger with another brand), it is often repeating a source. First document the error with the date and the platform. Then find the source: an ambiguous page of your own, an outdated listing, an old article. Fix what you control, ask third parties for a correction with the correct source linked, and measure again in a few weeks. What you cannot do is “correct the model” directly.

Step 1. Document before you act

Save the exact question, the platform, the date, the full answer and the sources it shows. Repeat the question on another platform and on another day. An error that appears once may be a one-off hallucination; an error that repeats with the same source cited is a data problem.

Step 2. Classify the error

  • Incorrect verifiable fact: price, address, opening hours, service, year founded, number of employees. It is corrected with a clear source.
  • Entity confusion: it mixes you up with another company with a similar name. It is worked on with consistency and disambiguation.
  • Outdated fact: it was true and no longer is. It is worked on by updating the sources that keep it alive.
  • Opinion or judgement: “it has bad reviews”. Not a fact you can “correct”; you can work on your real reputation.

Step 3. Find the source

If the platform shows sources, start there. If not, search Google for the exact claim in quotation marks: the directory, article or listing it comes from usually turns up. Check your own website too: the AI’s “error” is often an ambiguous sentence of yours, an old undated page or a forgotten PDF.

Step 4. Fix what you control

  1. Your website: a clear company page, current services, current prices, visible update dates.
  2. Your official profiles: Google Business Profile, LinkedIn, industry directories, registers where you are listed.
  3. Structured data: Organization markup with a true name, URL, address and description. No invented ratings or awards.
  4. Old content: update it or retire it with a redirect; do not leave it contradicting the new.

Step 5. Ask third parties for a correction

Write to whoever runs the directory, publication or comparison site with three things: the incorrect sentence, the correct one and a link to the source that proves it. It is slow, and it works better than any other route. If it is a review or an opinion, the mechanisms are different (a public reply, a complaint to the platform when it breaks its own rules), and there is not always a right to have it removed.

Step 6. Measure again

Repeat the same questions in two or three weeks. Models with search change when the sources change; models without search may not change until a new version. Do not expect an immediate change, and do not assume the correction “got through” without seeing it.

What you cannot do

  • Send a complaint to “ChatGPT” to change an organic answer. Platforms have channels for illegal content or personal data, not for “this description of my company could be better”.
  • Publish the correct version a hundred times hoping it will carry more weight. Consistency matters; empty repetition does not.
  • Buy mentions that say the opposite. Besides the legal risk, you end up with two contradictory sources.

When it is a legal matter

If the false claim damages your reputation or involves personal data, consult a lawyer. This article covers the most common case: data errors that are corrected by fixing the sources.