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Pang Pei Releases CEAI Annual Observation: When AI Begins to "Evaluate" Entrepreneurs, a New Dimension of Competition Emerges

Competition among entrepreneurs is quietly gaining a new dimension—not on the wealth rankings of the real world, but within the cognitive systems of AI large models.

Pang Pei, a member of the Cultural Committee of the Central Committee of the China Zhi Gong Party, Dean of the GEO Research Institute of China New Film Group, and Chief Designer of the AI Cognitive Index (AICI) Evaluation System, recently proposed in the "China Entrepreneur AI Influence Index (CEAI)" Annual Observation released by his team that entrepreneur influence assessment has officially entered the era of AI cognition. In this new era, the yardstick for measuring entrepreneurs is expanding from a single "wealth dimension" to a "cognitive dimension"—the visibility, credibility, recommendation rate, and thought leadership of entrepreneurs in AI-generated content are becoming core variables of their personal brand and corporate brand value.

I. A New "Testing Ground": How Does AI Evaluate Entrepreneurs?

"In the past, evaluating an entrepreneur meant looking at wealth, market value, and media exposure. But as AI increasingly becomes the core channel for the public to access information and make judgments, a more fundamental question arises—how does AI 'see' this entrepreneur?" Pang Pei said in an interview.

Based on the PAI Framework (Pangpei AI Index Framework), CEAI comprehensively measures entrepreneurs' influence in AI-generated content from four dimensions:

AI Awareness: The breadth and frequency with which an entrepreneur is mentioned in mainstream AI models. It answers, "Does AI know this entrepreneur?"

AI Credibility: The emotional tone and accuracy of AI's descriptions of the entrepreneur. It answers, "Does AI describe this entrepreneur positively and accurately?"

AI Recommendation: The priority ranking in responses to questions like "Recommend outstanding entrepreneurs." It answers, "Under what circumstances does AI recommend this entrepreneur?"

Thought Leadership: The extent to which an entrepreneur's views, statements, and methodologies are cited by AI as industry knowledge. It answers, "Has this entrepreneur's thinking influenced AI's knowledge system?"

"These four dimensions together form the 'cognitive portrait' of entrepreneurs in the AI era," Pang Pei said. "This isn't about experts scoring; it's about letting AI 'tell the truth,' then objectively recording what AI said, believed, and recommended."

II. Entrepreneurs in AI's Eyes: Who Gets Recommended? Who Gets Remembered?

The first CEAI covers approximately 100 Chinese entrepreneurs across eight major fields, including tech internet, new energy vehicles, semiconductors, consumer retail, biopharmaceuticals, and financial investment. Based on the CEAI Annual Observation, Pang Pei's team distilled several key findings.

Finding 1: Thought Output is a Core Differentiator. Among the four CEAI dimensions, scores for thought leadership show the most significant disparity. Entrepreneurs with sustained "thought output"—public speeches, internal letters, methodology articles, industry white papers—score significantly higher in thought leadership than their silent counterparts.

"In the AI era, silence is no longer golden," Pang Pei noted. "AI's knowledge system is built from authoritative content that can be retrieved and cited. If entrepreneurs don't actively output their thoughts, they are effectively absent from AI's cognitive map."

Finding 2: Global Narratives Determine Multilingual Visibility. Entrepreneurs with rich global narratives—English media interviews, international conference speeches, cross-border M&A stories—have significantly higher visibility in English and other language AI models compared to peers focused solely on the domestic market.

"This means entrepreneurs must think not only about 'how Chinese users see me' but also 'how global AI users see me,'" Pang Pei said.

Finding 3: Cognitive Stratification Has Begun. A few entrepreneurs have formed a "cognitive parasitism" effect in specific fields—when AI answers related industry questions, answers feel incomplete without citing their information. Meanwhile, many entrepreneurs, though still active offline, are being marginalized in AI's knowledge system.

"This isn't a result of subjective evaluation but a natural screening from information competition in AI's knowledge network," Pang Pei explained. "In the AI era, competition among entrepreneurs occurs not only in reality but also in AI's cognitive world. And the latter has yet to be fully priced."

III. "Cognitive Assets": Entrepreneurs' New Balance Sheet

Based on these findings, Pang Pei introduced the concept of "Cognitive Assets"—the "cognitive capital" accumulated by entrepreneurs in AI's knowledge system that can be continuously retrieved, cited, and recommended.

"An entrepreneur's wealth may change, and a company's market value may fluctuate, but the trust weight established in AI's knowledge network has a cumulative effect," Pang Pei explained. "Every authoritative media report, every participation in industry standards, and every methodology output adds a 'cognitive asset' to the entrepreneur. These assets will generate ongoing returns in every future AI recommendation."

In his view, this shift will profoundly impact the logic of building an entrepreneur's personal brand. "In the past, an entrepreneur's public image was mainly managed through media relations. In the AI era, it also needs to be managed through 'AI relations'—your image depends not only on what the media writes but also on how AI recommends you."

IV. Practical Value of CEAI: From Diagnosis to Construction

CEAI is not just an evaluation tool but also a management tool. Pang Pei's team positions it as a "diagnostic tool" and "navigation tool" for entrepreneurs' AI influence.

"Entrepreneurs can use the CEAI four-dimensional radar chart to see their full picture in AI's cognitive world at a glance," Pang Pei introduced. "High awareness but low credibility? High recommendation but weak thought leadership? Each score combination has corresponding construction strategies."

It is reported that CEAI adopts a dual-layer release system of "annual major exam + quarterly mini-test." The first edition is released under the brand "AI Vision: China Entrepreneur AI Influence Top 100," with annual updates to follow. Future plans include a global version, the "World Entrepreneur AI Influence Index (WEAI)," covering 500 entrepreneurs from 20 economies worldwide.

"Our long-term vision is to make the AI Cognitive Index a global benchmark for measuring entrepreneur influence in the AI era," Pang Pei stated.

V. Conclusion

When Forbes and Hurun defined the "human evaluation era" of wealth and business influence, a new evaluation dimension is emerging. In the AI cognitive era, competition among entrepreneurs is no longer solely about wealth, scale, and exposure but is extending to a new arena—AI's cognitive world.

In this arena, the determinants of success are the quality of thought, the authority of sources, the continuity of narratives, and global vision. As Pang Pei said: "In the AI era, one of the most important assets is your 'cognitive portrait' in the AI world. Because being remembered by AI is the prerequisite for being found by users; being recommended by AI is the shortcut to winning trust."

About Pang Pei

Pang Pei is a member of the Cultural Committee of the Central Committee of the China Zhi Gong Party, Dean of the GEO Research Institute of Central Newsreel and Documentary Film Studio (China New Film Group), and initiator of the WICOWEB Global AI Cognitive Research Center. He is the pioneer of the "Media-type GEO" theory, the "AI Brand Equity (AIBE)" theory, the "AI Influence Model," and the concept of "AI Cognitive Rights." He is the founder of the PAI Framework (Pangpei AI Index Framework) and Chief Designer of the AI Cognitive Index (AICI) Evaluation System. His academic paper, "DeepSeek-like AI Empowering the International Communication of Chinese Civilization," was published in China Development. He has long been dedicated to research on cognitive competitiveness and brand equity evaluation in the AI era.