- Zen Media's 2026 industrial automation AI visibility benchmark found that the top 100 vendors averaged 4% visibility across a study of 1,000 automation buyer prompts and 4,000 AI responses.
- Five of the top 10 companies by AI visibility were distributors or direct sellers, in a prompt set where half of the questions carried buy intent.
- Manufacturer websites had a 92% citation frequency in AI answers, ahead of industry associations, directories and analyst firms.
Miami, FL, Sept. 30, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A new benchmark of 1,000 industrial automation buyer questions found that even the category's most visible companies appeared in only a fraction of AI answers. Zen Media's 2026 benchmark puts AI visibility for industrial automation at a 4% average across the top 100 vendors.
More than 150 companies were named at least once across 4,000 responses from Perplexity, ChatGPT, Gemini and Grok. Siemens, the top-ranked company, appeared in 21% of prompts, followed by Rockwell Automation at 17% and ABB and Schneider Electric at 16% each.
"When a controls engineer asks an assistant how to connect a new PLC to legacy equipment, the answer draws on what automation vendors publish about themselves," said Sarah Evans, CEO of Zen Media. "A vendor with thin integration pages or an outdated spec sheet gives the assistant less first-party information to work with. That is something the vendor can take care of on its own site. LLMs rely on owned content authority."
Methodology
Zen Media's 2026 industrial automation AI visibility benchmark analyzed 1,000 automation buyer prompts across four AI assistants: Perplexity, ChatGPT, Gemini and Grok. The study collected 4,000 total responses.
Visibility was calculated as the percentage of prompts in which a company was named. Prompts were written for 255 buyer personas, from automation engineers to procurement managers, and categorized as buy intent, 50.7%, or informational, 49.3%.
The study ran on ZAVI™, Zen Media's AI visibility engine. No vendor participated in, reviewed or funded the study, and no company was notified before collection.
AI visibility for industrial automation: Siemens led at 21%, and the top 100 averaged 4%
Siemens had the highest visibility in the benchmark at 21%, followed by Rockwell Automation at 17% and ABB and Schneider Electric at 16% each. The ranking measures how often the assistants named each company and does not rate product quality or performance.
| Company | Solution type | AI visibility |
| Siemens | Full-stack industrial automation platform | 21% |
| Rockwell Automation | Integrated control and information solutions | 17% |
| ABB | Electrification and automation technology | 16% |
| Schneider Electric | Energy management and automation | 16% |
| Top 100 average | All categories | 4% |
Below the top four, visibility fell to 7% by the 10th-ranked company and to 4% by the 20th.
Distributors and direct sellers held five of the top 10 spots
Grainger, at 13%, AutomationDirect, at 12%, RS Components, at 10%, McMaster-Carr, at 8%, and DigiKey, at 7%, all ranked in the top 10. The other five were manufacturers: Siemens, Rockwell Automation, ABB, Schneider Electric and Omron.
Half of the 1,000 prompts carried buy intent. In maintenance and urgent-replacement scenarios, responses frequently included distributors and direct sellers alongside manufacturers.
Authorized channels came up in 82% of responses, including references to warranty and technical support. The finding shows that AI visibility at the buying stage can extend beyond the manufacturer itself to the distributors and sales channels that carry its products.
System integration complexity came up in 92% of AI answers about automation vendors
System integration complexity appeared in 92% of AI answers about automation vendors. Total cost of ownership came up in 88% of responses, while cybersecurity and operational technology security appeared in 85%.
Legacy compatibility was also part of the discussion. One response noted that "legacy system compatibility remains a key challenge," tying vendor selection to the equipment and systems a buyer already operates.
Coverage differed by platform. ChatGPT named 112 distinct companies across its 1,000 responses and averaged 5.8 company mentions per response. Gemini named 108 distinct companies, Perplexity 95 and Grok 89.
By solution category, PLCs and control systems accounted for 28% of AI mentions, industrial robotics 22%, sensors and instrumentation 18%, motion control and drives 15%, and vision systems 10%.
Manufacturer websites led AI citations at 92%, ahead of industry associations and directories
Manufacturer websites registered a 92% citation frequency in the benchmark. The Control System Integrators Association registered 78%, Automation.com 65%, Thomasnet 58%, DirectIndustry 52%, Bain & Company 45%, and the International Society of Automation 42%.
The results show that first-party product and technical information sits alongside industry associations, directories and analyst sources in AI-generated answers about industrial automation vendors.
For manufacturers, that makes product pages, integration documentation, support information, spec sheets and accurate third-party listings important parts of the source environment AI systems can reference.
Answer engine optimization focuses on structuring information such as specifications, integration details and support coverage so it is clear and usable in AI-generated answers.
Frequently Asked Questions
Question: Which industrial automation companies have the highest AI visibility in 2026?
Answer: Siemens ranked highest at 21% in Zen Media's 2026 industrial automation benchmark, followed by Rockwell Automation at 17% and ABB and Schneider Electric at 16% each. Visibility measures how often Perplexity, ChatGPT, Gemini and Grok named a company across the benchmark's fixed set of 1,000 buyer prompts. The top 100 averaged 4%.
Question: What is a good AI visibility score for an industrial automation company?
Answer: In Zen Media's 2026 benchmark, the top 100 industrial automation companies averaged 4%. The 10th-ranked company appeared in 7% of prompts, while the four highest-visibility companies ranged from 16% to 21%.
The results are specific to this industry, prompt set and methodology. A visibility figure from another industry or a differently constructed prompt set is not directly comparable.
Question: Do AI assistants recommend distributors for industrial automation purchases?
Answer: Distributors and direct sellers appeared prominently in Zen Media's benchmark. Five of the top 10 companies by AI visibility were Grainger at 13%, AutomationDirect at 12%, RS Components at 10%, McMaster-Carr at 8% and DigiKey at 7%.
Half of the 1,000 prompts carried buy intent, and authorized channels came up in 82% of responses.
Question: What does AI visibility mean in the industrial automation benchmark?
Answer: AI visibility is the percentage of the benchmark's buyer prompts in which a company was named. The study used 1,000 prompts across Perplexity, ChatGPT, Gemini and Grok and collected 4,000 total responses.
The prompts were written for 255 buyer personas and split between buy-intent and informational questions. The intent split describes how the benchmark prompt set was constructed. It does not measure how frequently real buyers ask each type of question.
Question: Which sources do AI assistants reference for industrial automation vendors?
Answer: Manufacturer websites registered a 92% citation frequency in Zen Media's benchmark. The Control System Integrators Association registered 78%, Automation.com 65%, Thomasnet 58%, DirectIndustry 52%, Bain & Company 45%, and the International Society of Automation 42%.
The finding places first-party manufacturer information among the most frequently cited sources measured in the benchmark. Product pages, current spec sheets, integration documentation and accurate directory listings are sources vendors can maintain or keep current.
Question: How can an industrial automation company measure its own AI visibility?
Answer: Start with a fixed set of prompts covering the buying and informational questions relevant to the company's customers. Run the same prompt set across the AI assistants those buyers use and measure the share of prompts in which the company is named.
Using the same prompt set on a consistent schedule makes it possible to measure how visibility changes over time. Zen Media runs this type of measurement through ZAVI, its AI visibility engine.
About Zen Media
Zen Media is a strategic communications and marketing company helping brands shape how they are discovered, understood, and chosen across media, search, and AI. The company combines public relations, content, demand generation, and proprietary AI visibility technology to build authority across the buyer journey, from earned media and search to AI-generated answers. Zen Media works with companies across industries and stages, from growth-stage brands to global enterprises, that want to build authority, demand, and visibility across modern discovery channels.
Sarah Evans CEO, Zen Media sarah@zenmedia.com
