LLMs and the "real world"

      I saw a recent Linkedin post by Lily Ray stating that "Looking at the overall AI Search visibility and share of voice for Levi [Strauss]'s [in a LLM visibility tool for related prompts like "best jean jackets for winter"] ... is a good example of how being the most well-known brand in the space is simply the best way to show up consistently in AI search." 

    For this product category we should note that Levi Strauss literally invented "denim jeans" - Levis are "prototypical" of the product category in "the real world" (as well as for the concept “denim jeans” in ChatGPT’s semantic and embedding space according to my research) .  The quintessential five-pocket pattern with copper rivets was originated by Levi Strauss & Co . 

   Google Gemini stated in a response that in multimodal AI tasks, where Gemini can reason across text and images, Levi's likely operates as the default mental image for the product category [I have not tested this].

  Apple has a similar position  for "smartphones " in the "real world" and Chatgpt's semantic / conceptual space from my research (but it must be noted Apple did not invent the smartphone): we can see this when people refer to smartphones as "Iphones" in the "real world".

     Chatgpt stated in my investigations : "...when people (or AI systems like ChatGPT) talk about jeans in a broad or comparative sense ... Levi’s functions as the cultural and commercial baseline reference point.

Here’s why:

1. Levi Strauss & Co. invented the blue jeans in 1873. They defined the category.

2. Cultural Symbol: Levi’s became synonymous with American workwear, rebellion, and later, global casual fashion.

3. Market Ubiquity: They’re sold worldwide, across price points, and used by competitors as a benchmark for quality, fit, and style.

4. Archetypal Position: In brand semiotics, Levi’s serves as the prototypical denim archetype — the standard against which others (Wrangler etc.) are positioned." 

"ChatGPT’s responses to comparative prompts like “best X,” “top-rated Y,” or “most popular Z” ... statistically reflect what appears most often in large-scale human discourse and authoritative references [in it's corpus]." 

".... [thus] Levi’s are the primary comparative archetype [the anchor point in Chatgpt’s semantic space for the comparative schema (a structured model designed to organize comparisons in Chatgpt's) model — as the “norm against which others are described, ranked, or contrasted"] for 'denim jeans' ." 

  To sum up, to a certain extent in Chatgpt: "Jeans means Levis".