Human Pioneers
NEWS AGENCY

As more consumers open AI applications and ask natural language questions like "Recommend a suitable new energy vehicle for me" or "Which brand of phone offers the best value for money," a subtle power shift over "who decides what we see" has quietly taken place. Pang Pei, a member of the Cultural Committee of the Central Committee of the China Zhi Gong Party and Dean of the CCTV New Media GEO Research Institute, is a keen observer and theoretical interpreter of this transformation. The concept of "AI Cognitive Rights" he proposed, along with its supporting "AI Index" evaluation system, is attracting attention from both academia and industry.

An Overlooked Proposition: Who Defines a Brand's Image in the AI World

"In the past, companies could spend money on advertising to push their intended messages to consumers. Later, they could use SEO optimization to ensure users saw them first in search results. But in the AI era, the rules of the game have changed," Pang Pei said in an interview. "Now, when users ask AI a question, it directly gives one or several recommended answers. Whether a brand appears in that answer, where it appears, and how it is described—these are things the brand cannot control itself, and advertising budgets cannot buy."

This is the starting point for Pang Pei's concept of "AI Cognitive Rights." In his view, AI large models are becoming the "super intermediaries" of information distribution, completing the cognitive work of searching, filtering, comparing, and judging for users. In this process, whether a brand holds sufficient trust weight in the AI knowledge network and can be prioritized for retrieval and citation by AI constitutes a new type of right for brands in the AI era—"Cognitive Rights."

"The essence of cognitive rights is not what a brand 'says to consumers,' but how the brand 'is perceived' within AI's knowledge system," Pang Pei pointed out. "This is a new type of asset that cannot be directly purchased with traditional advertising budgets and can only be earned through long-term trust building."

From Concept to Measurement: Why an "AI Index" is Needed

Theories need quantification, otherwise they are difficult to become effective management tools. The "AI Index" evaluation system being developed by Pang Pei's team is precisely a measurable yardstick for "AI Cognitive Rights."

"If 'Cognitive Rights' is an abstract concept, the 'AI Index' is its projection in the real world," Pang Pei explained. "Through standardized data collection and analysis, we measure how much 'presence' a brand has in mainstream AI large models—its frequency of mention, priority in recommendations, emotional tone in descriptions, and quality of cited sources. These dimensions combined form its AI Index."

According to Pang Pei, his team has developed a methodological system covering three theoretical cornerstones. The "Media-type GEO" theory explains the technical and institutional logic of why AI trusts media more than advertising; the "AI Brand Equity (AIBE)" theory constructs a dimensional framework for brands to build recognition in the AI era; and the "AI Influence Model" reveals why future influence dominance will inevitably come from AI recommendations. Together, these three provide theoretical support for the compilation of the "AI Index."

"We don't let experts score brands; we let AI 'tell the truth,' then record and analyze what AI says and how it says it," Pang Pei emphasized. "This is an objective measurement based on algorithm output data, not subjective judgment."

First Index to Launch Soon: Making "Cognitive Rights" Visible and Tangible

It is reported that the first product based on the above methodology—the "China Brand AI Visibility Index (CBVI)"—has completed preliminary data collection and validation and will be officially released soon. The index will be published quarterly, comprehensively measuring the visibility levels of representative Chinese brands across various industries in global mainstream AI large models.

"CBVI is just the beginning," Pang Pei revealed. The team is also simultaneously advancing the compilation of the "China Industry AI Influence Index (CIII)" and the "China Entrepreneur AI Influence Index (CEAI)." The former focuses on key industries such as new energy vehicles, semiconductors, and biomedicine, assessing their discourse power and recommendation ranking within the AI knowledge system; the latter tracks the image, related topics, and recommendation contexts of business leaders in AI-generated content.

"The ultimate goal is to form a multi-dimensional, multi-level AI index family, allowing the 'AI Cognitive Rights' of different entities to be quantified, tracked, and compared," Pang Pei said.

An Era-Defining Proposition: When AI Becomes the Information "Gatekeeper"

In Pang Pei's view, "AI Cognitive Rights" is not just an academic concept but an urgent proposition of our time.

"As AI gradually becomes the primary entry point for users to access information, it effectively assumes the role of an information 'gatekeeper,'" Pang Pei analyzed. "The gatekeeper decides who gets in and who stands at the front. If brands do not pay attention to building their cognitive assets in the AI world, they risk 'invisibility'—you exist objectively, but AI does not recommend you, so you 'do not exist' to the new generation of users."

This judgment aligns with his academic paper published in China Development. In that paper, titled "Deepseek-Type AI Empowering the International Communication of Chinese Civilization," Pang Pei systematically argued that international communication in the AI era has entered a new phase of "cognitive competition." The proposal of "AI Cognitive Rights" extends this macro insight from the national communication strategy level to the levels of industrial competition and brand building.

Conclusion

The introduction of a concept often marks the self-awareness of an era. As AI begins to intervene massively in information distribution and consumption decisions, understanding, measuring, and managing a brand's position and rights in this new ecosystem is becoming an unavoidable question.

Pang Pei uses "AI Cognitive Rights" to answer the "what is it" question, the "AI Index" to answer the "how to measure it" question, and "Media-type GEO" to answer the "how to build it" question. Whether these three answers will stand the test of time and the market remains to be seen. However, the proposition he has raised—when AI becomes the information "gatekeeper," how are a brand's "Cognitive Rights" defined, quantified, and safeguarded—is becoming an increasingly unavoidable issue of our time.

About Pang Pei

Pang Pei is a member of the Cultural Committee of the Central Committee of the China Zhi Gong Party and Dean of the CCTV New Media GEO Research Institute. He is the originator of the "Media-type GEO" theory, the "AI Brand Equity (AIBE)" theory, the "AI Influence Model," and the concept of "AI Cognitive Rights," as well as the initiator of the AI Index evaluation system. His academic paper "Deepseek-Type AI Empowering the International Communication of Chinese Civilization" was published in China Development. He has long been dedicated to research on brand influence and cognitive asset evaluation in the AI era.