We asked four AIs for the best dispensary in 50 cities. 3 in 4 licensed stores were never named.

1. Three in four licensed stores do not exist to AI

1,821 of 2,407 licensed dispensaries (75.7%) did not appear in any of the four answers for their city. Only 45 stores made all four.

Number of the 2,407 licensed stores named by 0, 1, 2, 3 or all 4 AI tools for their city.

2. Each AI reads a different internet

Share of each tool's 50 answers that linked to at least one source of each type. The highlighted bar is that tool's top source.

ChatGPT built its short list from best-of list sites, Weedmaps and Leafly, and Yelp, and rarely linked to a store's own website. Google AI Mode leaned on its own map cards and Reddit. Gemini and Perplexity read dispensary websites in more than 9 of 10 answers. One store can be strong in one tool and invisible in another.

3. Weedmaps and Leafly are the most-read sites in the category

Across all 200 answers, Weedmaps was linked in 91 and Leafly in 87. Next came best-of list sites (MunchMakers' Best Dispensaries in 68 answers, JointCommerce in 46), Reddit in 54 and Yelp in 48. Even as fewer shoppers browse the big menu platforms directly, AI tools use them to decide who to name.

4. Stores with a website were named twice as often

5. Big markets are the hardest

A three-name answer cannot cover a city with 200 stores. In the six biggest markets in the study, the share of licensed stores named: Oklahoma City 7%, Portland 16%, Denver 13%, Los Angeles 9%, Tulsa 8%, New York 10%. In small markets, most shops made it into an answer. Where AI has to choose, the stores with an award, a strong review profile or a clear specialty are the ones it picks.

How we ran it

• Question: "best dispensary in [city], [state]", once per tool per city, on October 16, 2026, from a US location with no account history.
• Tools: ChatGPT (the consumer web answer), Google AI Mode, Gemini 2.5 Flash with web search, Perplexity Sonar with web search.
• Cities: the 45 cities with the most licensed dispensaries, at most three per state, plus the largest market in five smaller legal states. 50 cities across 24 states and DC.
• Licensed stores: from each state's published license list. A store counts as named when its name appears in the answer. Very short or generic names were not counted, so the real share may be slightly higher. Chain stores with several licenses in one city count once per license when the brand is named.
• Sources: every link each answer cited, grouped by type. ChatGPT's "find on Google Maps" buttons are not counted as sources.
• Limits: one day, one phrasing, one run per tool. AI answers change between sessions and users. Treat these as a snapshot of patterns, not a ranking of stores.

You are welcome to cite this study with a link to this page.

Questions about the study

What share of licensed dispensaries does AI recommend?

About one in four. Of 2,407 licensed dispensaries in 50 cities, 586 (24.3%) appeared in at least one of the four AI answers for their city, and only 45 (1.9%) appeared in all four.

Which websites does ChatGPT use to pick dispensaries?

Best-of list sites first: 84% of ChatGPT's 50 answers linked to one. Weedmaps or Leafly showed up in 68%, Yelp and other review sites in 34%, and a dispensary's own website in just 12%.

Does a website help a dispensary get recommended by AI?

In this study, yes. Licensed shops with a website on file appeared in at least one AI answer 29% of the time, against 13% for shops without one.

Can I cite or reuse this study?

Yes. The data is free to use under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. Please link to this page as the source.