Human Pioneers
NEWS AGENCY

While GDP measures economic output, PMI reflects manufacturing activity, and brand value rankings assess commercial assets, a long-standing question has finally received a quantitative answer: In an era where AI dominates information distribution, how exactly can we measure a subject's "presence" and "discourse power" in the AI cognitive world?

Pang Pei, a member of the Cultural Committee of the Central Committee of the China Zhi Gong Party, President of the China Central Newsreel and Documentary Film Studio GEO Research Institute, and Chief Designer of the AI Cognitive Index (AICI) evaluation system, recently provided this answer in the annual series report on AI Cognitive Index released by his team. The AI Cognitive Index system, centered on the PAI Framework (Pangpei AI Index Framework), has for the first time achieved a systematic quantitative assessment of "AI cognitive rights"—namely, the visibility, trustworthiness, and recommendation degree of a brand, entrepreneur, city, or industry within the knowledge network of major AI models.

"If the core metric for competitiveness in the industrial era was GDP, and in the internet era it was traffic, then the new metric emerging in the AI era is 'Cognitive GDP'," Pang Pei stated.

I. Why Quantify "Cognitive Rights"?

In his recently proposed "AI Cognitive Competition Theory," Pang Pei points out that the competition paradigm in the AI era is undergoing a fundamental shift. As users delegate more information filtering and decision-making to AI, whether a brand or individual appears in AI's answers, where they appear, and how they are described is no longer a simple matter of exposure. It has become a new type of "cognitive right"—the right to be seen, trusted, and recommended by AI.

"Cognitive rights are not an illusory concept but a new type of asset that can be measured, built, and maintained," said Pang Pei. "The purpose of the AI Index is to provide a visible yardstick for this 'invisible competitiveness'."

Based on this philosophy, Pang Pei's team has successively released seven AI Cognitive Indices: CEAI (Chinese Entrepreneur AI Influence Index), CBVI (Chinese Brand AI Visibility Index), CIII (Chinese Industry AI Influence Index), WEAI (World Entrepreneur AI Influence Index), WBVI (World Brand AI Visibility Index), WACI (World AI City Competitiveness Index), and WAIG (World AI Governance Index). All seven indices are based solely on real output data from 15 mainstream global AI large models, covering seven languages, forming a complete assessment matrix from China to the world, and from individuals to cities.

II. "Cognitive GDP": A New Yardstick for the AI Era

Building on the AI Cognitive Index system, Pang Pei further proposed the concept of "Cognitive GDP", used to measure the total cognitive output of a subject in the AI world. Its core formula is: Cognitive GDP = AI Presence × AI Trust × AI Dissemination × AI Influence.

"Just as the introduction of GDP provided a common language for countries to measure economic output, the proposal of Cognitive GDP aims to give the world a new yardstick for measuring cognitive competitiveness in the AI era," Pang Pei explained. "A subject might rank high in traditional GDP but lag significantly in Cognitive GDP—this gap itself constitutes an important piece of strategic intelligence."

The initial batch of AI Cognitive Indices has preliminarily validated this judgment. In the first assessment of WACI (World AI City Competitiveness Index), cities with comparable economic sizes showed AI visibility gaps of several times. Some brands with considerable market share offline had a much lower appearance rate in AI recommendations than their market share. Meanwhile, a group of brands and cities that have continuously invested in authoritative information sources and structured content supply are gaining a "cognitive premium" in the AI cognitive world that exceeds their current economic scale.

III. From Measurement to Construction: Practical Application of the AI Index

Pang Pei emphasized that the AI Index is not just a ranking tool but also a management tool. "You can think of it as an 'annual cognitive health checkup' for enterprises or cities in the AI era."

Currently, the various indices based on the PAI framework have entered the practical application stage. At the city level, some cities have completed AI cognitive baseline diagnostics using the WACI model and formulated targeted "City AI Cognitive Competitiveness Enhancement Plans." At the brand level, the first panoramic list of CBVI covers approximately 2,100 representative Chinese brands across 14 major industries, providing enterprises with systematic AI visibility diagnostics and competitive benchmarking analysis. At the entrepreneur level, the first "AI Vision · Top 100 Chinese Entrepreneurs by AI Influence" list has been officially released, attracting widespread attention.

"The goal of the AI Index is to transform 'competitiveness in the AI era' from a vague concept into a quantifiable, comparable, and trackable global indicator system," Pang Pei stated.

IV. Ten-Year Vision: Becoming the "Dow Jones Index" of the AI Era

Regarding long-term plans, Pang Pei's team revealed that the global expansion of the AI Cognitive Index series is accelerating. Based on the existing seven indices, new metrics such as the National AI Cognitive Index (AICI-N), University AI Cognitive Index (AICI-U), and AI Cognitive Sovereignty Index (AICSI) are under development and expected to be released within the next two years.

"MSCI defined the benchmark for capital markets, and WIPO defined the yardstick for innovation. We hope the AI Cognitive Index can become the global benchmark for cognitive competitiveness in the AI era," said Pang Pei. "Ten years from now, when people measure the comprehensive competitiveness of a country, city, or brand, the AI Cognitive Index should stand as a core indicator alongside GDP and brand value."

Analysts point out that as the global user base of generative AI surpasses 2 billion, the impact of AI recommendations on consumer decisions, investment flows, and talent migration continues to deepen. The strategic value of "Cognitive GDP" and related index systems is likely to become increasingly prominent. Furthermore, the concept of the "AI Index" itself is becoming closely associated with Pang Pei's name—a case worthy of continued attention in the cognitive competition of the AI era.

About Pang Pei

Pang Pei is a member of the Cultural Committee of the Central Committee of the China Zhi Gong Party, President of the China Central Newsreel and Documentary Film Studio GEO Research Institute, and initiator of the WICOWEB Global AI Cognitive Research Center. He is the first proponent of the "Media-type GEO" theory, "AI Brand Equity (AIBE)" theory, "AI Influence Model," "AI Cognitive Sovereignty" theory, and "AI Cognitive Competition Theory." 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.