For two decades, the digital economy revolved around visibility. Every startup, every marketer, every strategist was playing the same infinite game: how do I get seen?

Search was the great equalizer. Google turned relevance into currency — a perfectly measurable system of intent, ranking, and reward. The playbook was simple: understand demand, optimize for it, and scale. The best players — from HubSpot to Atlassian to Notion — didn’t just use SEO; they built it into their DNA. SEO became the compounding engine of B2B growth: lower CAC, higher discoverability, infinite leverage. If you could capture attention, you could buy time.

But the internet has changed its interface. And with that, the physics of visibility are shifting again.

Where once you competed for clicks, you now compete for citations. Because before a user ever reaches your website, their question may already have been answered — by a generative engine.

ChatGPT. Gemini. Perplexity. Copilot.

We think of pricing as a simple logic of distance and quality. But after diving into a rare data-driven analysis of the €2 billion Alpine transfer market, I realized the real cost drivers are invisible forces: structural inefficiencies, information asymmetry, and the surprisingly high price of consumer trust. I've always been fascinated by markets that defy simple logic. Why does a cup of artisanal coffee cost $7? Why is some enterprise software priced per seat, while another is priced per API call? These aren't just arbitrary numbers; they are the surface-level results of deep, often hidden, economic forces. Recently, I stumbled upon a perfect example of such a market in an unexpected place: the private ski transfer industry in the Alps. Like many, I used to assume the cost of a transfer from, say, Geneva to Chamonix was a straightforward calculation of fuel, tolls, and a driver's time. It’s a commodity service, right? A to B. But why, then, can the price for a similar distance vary by nearly 90% depending on the destination? Why can booking two weeks later add a 15% "procrastination tax"? It seemed like a market operating in a data vacuum, driven by anecdotes and gut feelings. The reality, as I discovered after analyzing a new, in-depth report that provided a rare glimpse into this industry's data, is that the price you pay for that two-hour ride has very little to do with the ride itself. It’s a reflection of a complex ecosystem of logistical nightmares, fierce competition for your trust, and deeply ingrained consumer psychology. This isn't just a story about tourism; it's a deep dive into the hidden economics that govern niche markets everywhere.

Welcome to the AI Dark Funnel: the invisible part of the customer journey happening inside generative AI systems like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s AI Overviews.

Here’s how it works: customers ask AI about your category, compare options, and even make a decision — without ever visiting your website. By the time they type your brand into Google or land on your site, the decision has already been made. And your dashboards can’t trace it.

Generative AI isn't just a new feature in search; it's a fundamental psychological shift. By providing direct, synthesized answers, it caters to our brain's deep-seated desire to reduce cognitive load and trust authoritative narratives. This "great untraining" is rendering the classic marketing playbook obsolete. For businesses, developers, and marketers, the battle is no longer for clicks on blue links, but for becoming a trusted, citable source inside the AI's "brain." The age of persuasion is ending; the age of becoming a machine-readable source of truth has begun.