Fix the source before you report the answer. Google's AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Gemini build answers from what they find, so a false closure or a mixed-up practice usually traces back to a listing, a directory or an old page. Document it, correct the source, report it, then check again.
A dental practice in a large US city posted in Google's Business Profile forum in July 2026 asking for an urgent escalation. Google's AI Overview had tied the practice to a public health warning about HIV and hepatitis testing, and said it was permanently closed.
Neither was true. The warning belonged to a different practice, now closed, in the same building, with a similar name. The city's health department had already put out a statement saying the open practice's patients weren't affected. The AI mixed the two up anyway.
The owner had filed a support ticket and posted screenshots of the answer next to the health department's statement. That's the right instinct. The rest of this piece is what I'd add to it.
Why an assistant gets a real business wrong
These systems don't know your business. They read about it. Google's help page for AI Overviews says they pull together information from a range of sources and that AI responses may include mistakes. When two businesses share a building and most of a name, a summary can merge them without anything on your own site being wrong.
The ingredients are usually boring. Your Business Profile. Directory listings that copied an old address. Reviews that mention the wrong location. A news story about someone else. An old page on your own site that still lists a service you dropped.
Your profile can also change without you. Google's help on Google updates to a Business Profile says Google gathers information from user reports and licensed content, may update a profile when those sources disagree with it, and shows those changes in blue in the editor. It also says you can't manage every one of those updates yourself.
So "the AI is lying" is rarely the whole story. Something it read said so, or two things it read got merged, and that something is usually easier to change than the model.
First, document the answer exactly as you saw it
Take a screenshot of the full answer, with the date, and write down the exact words you typed, the assistant, and whether you were signed in. If the answer shows source links, save them. Do it before you change anything, because the answer can shift between one search and the next and you'll want proof of what people saw.
Ask two or three versions of the question too: your name alone, your name plus city, and the question a new client would type. A false claim that only shows up for one wording is a different size of problem from one that shows up for all of them.
Second, find the source the error comes from
Open every source link the answer shows and search your business name the ordinary way. You're looking for the page that says the wrong thing: a listing marked closed, a directory with another practice's address, an article about a business with a similar name.
In the dental case, the source was public and easy to find: an official health department statement about the other practice. The AI had the right facts and pinned them on the wrong business. That's a naming and location problem, and it points to what your own pages need to say plainly.
Third, correct your own site and your Business Profile
Start with what you control. Google's help for editing a Business Profile says you sign in with the account linked to the profile, select Edit profile, make the change and save. Check hours, address, suite number, categories and services, and look for anything in blue that Google changed.
If the profile itself says permanently closed and that's a mistake, Google has a page for marking a business as reopened, set from the hours section of the profile. It also warns that if the closure came from a move or a name change, you add a new profile instead of reopening the old one.
On your site, say who you are without room for confusion: full business name, full address with suite, the services you actually offer, and nothing about services you've dropped. If a similar business sits nearby, it's fair to state your own name and suite clearly on the contact page. How your pages connect to each other matters here too, and that's what an entity map for a small brand helps you sort out.
Fourth, ask the directories that carry the error to fix it
Every directory has its own correction process, and most need you to claim the listing first. Work from the source list you built in the second step, starting with the ones the answer actually linked. For a Business Profile you don't own, such as the other business in your building, Google's help says you can suggest an edit.
Fifth, report the answer in each assistant where you saw it
Every assistant I checked has a way to flag a bad answer, and they're listed in the table below with the official page for each. Use the text box every time. Say what's false, what's true, and where the true version is published, with a link.
If the false claim could hurt your reputation in a legal sense, talk to a lawyer. I can't advise you on that. Google has a page for reporting content on its products for legal reasons, and Gemini has a Report legal issue option under each response, but whether your case fits is a question for counsel.
Sixth, run the same search again in a few days
Repeat the exact searches from the first step, with the same wording and the same account state, and take new screenshots with the date. Keep both sets in one folder. If the answer changed, you have a record of when. If it didn't, you have evidence for a second report or for your lawyer.
Where to report, and what each one promises
| Assistant | How to report it | What you can expect | Official source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google AI Overviews | Thumbs down under the overview, then Report a problem, pick a category, add details, Submit | Google says the feedback includes your query and its results. No reply or fix is promised. | Google Search Help |
| Google AI Mode | Thumbs down, choose the issue, add details, Submit | Google says AI Mode doesn't always get it right and asks for feedback. No timeline. | Google Search Help |
| ChatGPT | Thumbs down under the message, then Select an issue. Domains and content can also go through OpenAI's content reporting form | OpenAI says reported domains may be reviewed and filtered so ChatGPT relies less on unreliable sources. No timeline. | OpenAI Help Center |
| Perplexity | Flag icon under the answer, or a ticket through support | Perplexity asks for the query URL, the error and the expected result, and lists misinformation as an issue it looks for. No timeline. | Perplexity Help Center |
| Claude | Thumbs down on the response, or the feedback email on the help page | Anthropic says Claude can produce incorrect information and asks for feedback. No timeline. | Claude Help Center |
| Gemini | Bad response with a reason, or More, then Report legal issue | Google routes legal reports through on-screen steps. No timeline. | Gemini Apps Help |
Read the third column again. None of these pages promises that a report will change the answer, or when. Anyone who guarantees that an assistant will say something different about you is promising something the companies themselves don't.
One more channel exists, and it's narrow. OpenAI has a privacy request for keeping inaccurate information about a person out of ChatGPT responses. It covers people, not companies, asks for ID, and is decided case by case. For a solo practitioner whose own name is in the false answer, it may apply.
How often this happens, honestly
I don't know, and I'd rather say so. I went through 768 questions that business owners posted in public forums, across several service niches. Three were about an AI saying something false about a real business: the dental case above, another dentist in January 2026 whose AI answer placed them at a different practice and listed in-house services they don't offer, and a clinic in 2025 whose name ChatGPT showed with the wrong web address while Gemini and Perplexity had it right.
Three out of 768 could mean it's rare. It could also mean almost nobody checks. Owners search their category, not their own name in an assistant, and a wrong answer nobody looks at never becomes a forum post. That sample can't tell those two apart.
What it does show is the cost when it lands. I couldn't find a public resolution for any of the three. The practical move is cheap: ask each assistant about your business once a month, and keep the screenshots.
The same sources that fix a false answer are the ones that get you cited in the first place. If you want the longer version of that, I wrote about making a site worth citing in AI search.
Questions I get about this
Can I make Google remove a false AI Overview about my business?
You can report it with the thumbs down and Report a problem, and fix the sources it draws on. Google's help doesn't promise a removal or a timeline. If the claim may be defamatory, speak with a lawyer about Google's process for reporting content for legal reasons.
Why does an AI say my business is closed when it's open?
Usually because a source it reads says so: a Business Profile marked closed, a directory that never updated, or another business with a similar name. Check your profile first. Google has a documented way to mark a business reopened if it was closed by mistake.
Should I contact OpenAI or Google directly?
Start with the report option inside each product, and add details in the text box. OpenAI also has a content reporting form, and a privacy request for inaccurate information about a person. Neither company promises a reply time on those help pages.
How long does it take for the answer to change?
No company I checked gives a timeline. Fix your sources, report the answer, and repeat the same search a few days later with new screenshots. Keep the record either way.
Can anyone guarantee an AI will stop saying it?
No. The companies themselves don't promise that on their help pages. What you can control is what your own site and profile say, and how clearly they separate you from anyone you get confused with.
If an assistant is saying something wrong about your business and you can't find where it comes from, book a call and we'll trace the source together.
