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# How much do AI answers change between runs?
- URL: https://salienceindex.com/how-much-do-ai-answers-change-between-runs/
- Published: 2026-09-13T16:48:03.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-16T18:29:43.000Z
- Author: Anurag Panwar
- Tags: Learn

A lot, and nobody agrees on how much. Ask an AI engine the same question twice and the brands it names can differ.

SparkToro and Gumshoe found less than a 1-in-100 chance of getting the identical brand list twice across 100 runs. MaxAEO found 17% of prompts changed their brand set from one day to the next. Researchers suggest repeating each prompt at least seven or eight times; some vendors run a hundred.

A number from a single run is a coin toss with a decimal point. Every number on this site says how many runs it came from.

Who is speaking: SparkToro, which sells audience research. MaxAEO, which sells AI visibility tracking. Academic researchers. Label: Verified, read in the studies. The studies measure different things, so the figures are not comparable with each other. Source: SparkToro blog, 28 January 2026\. MaxAEO blog, 11 June 2026\. Schulte et al., 2026.