Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) and Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) platforms are often described as “SEO for AI.” That framing is incomplete in regulated contexts.

GEO tools do not inject prompts or control inference. They systematically reshape the external content corpus from which large language models synthesize answers. When AI-generated representations are materially relied upon in regulated decisions, this practice creates an evidentiary gap: outcomes can influence judgment without producing reconstructable, auditable records explaining why those outcomes prevailed.

This is not a claim of illegality. It is a governance lag.