# Study: AI search citations shift depending on query language

Published: 2026-10-23T00:21:23.900Z · Source: HackerNoon (https://hackernoon.com/your-language-changes-who-ai-search-cites)
Source date: 2026-10-22
Flags: single-source — confirmation pending
Entities: chatgpt, gemini, perplexity

Computational researcher Mohamed Soufan asked ChatGPT Search, Gemini, Perplexity and Copilot 40 equivalent questions about Lebanon — across topics like economy, banking and health — in both English and Arabic, collecting 320 responses, per his own HackerNoon write-up. Lebanese sources made up 56.7% of citations in Arabic-language answers versus 31.6% in English for the same questions, a 25.1-point gap; Gemini showed the widest split between the two languages (34.8 points), ahead of Perplexity (26.8), Copilot (20.4) and ChatGPT Search (18.5). International organizations accounted for 21% of English citations but only 12% of Arabic ones, while news and media sources were 24% of Arabic citations versus 10% of English. Soufan notes the test captured each system at a single point in time with one response per combination, and did not assess whether the language-based differences affected factual accuracy.

Why it matters: AI-visibility testing done only in English can miss how a brand or topic is actually represented to non-English speakers — a gap this quantifies for source citations the way an October 13 study quantified it for brand recommendations.

## What this answers

**Does asking an AI search engine the same question in a different language change which sources it cites?**

Yes — testing ChatGPT Search, Gemini, Perplexity and Copilot on 40 equivalent questions about Lebanon, a HackerNoon study found Lebanese sources made up 56.7% of Arabic-language citations versus 31.6% of English-language citations for the same questions.

**Which AI search engine showed the biggest citation gap between languages?**

Gemini had the largest language gap at 34.8 percentage points between Arabic and English citations, ahead of Perplexity (26.8), Copilot (20.4) and ChatGPT Search (18.5), per the same study.


Canonical: https://anythingengineoptimization.com/item/2026-10-23-study-ai-search-citations-shift-depending-on-query-language/
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