Gemini asks for a locksmith's badge more than a dentist's register

Short answer: ask Gemini for the best locksmiths in a British city, and in 25 of its 26 answers it tells you to pick a member of the Master Locksmiths Association (MLA). That membership is voluntary: in the UK, "the locksmithing industry is not regulated in any way by the Government", the MLA itself writes. Ask it for a dentist, and it cites the register the law requires, the General Dental Council (GDC), in only 13 answers of 26. ChatGPT files that register among professional organisations; Perplexity never cites it.

The advice is not wrong: an association that vets its members is better than nothing. But it puts on the same level a badge a tradesperson chooses to take and a register without which a dentist practises illegally. A customer who follows the list checks the first carefully, and often not the second.

A dentist's register is a legal duty. A locksmith's badge is a choice. Gemini talks about the second more often.

What was measured

Our UK study, collected on July 31, 2026, asked two buyer questions - the best professionals in a city with a list of recommendations, then the most recommended with their reasons - in thirteen cities across Great Britain, from London to Glasgow. ChatGPT (gpt-4o-mini) and Gemini answered through their APIs, without web search; so did Perplexity, which searches the web by design. We kept four trades where the customer has a register to check, or thinks they do: gas engineer, dentist, driving instructor, locksmith. That is 26 answers per trade and per engine, 312 in all. We pulled every sentence that cites the trade's register or association and read each one: two business websites whose address contains the MLA's domain name, and mentions of the DVSA (the driving test agency) that are not about the instructor register, were set aside. Then we read the status of each register on its official source, on October 27 and 28, 2026.

Which registers do the assistants cite, and which does the law require?

On gas, everyone agrees: Gemini and ChatGPT cite the Gas Safe Register in all 26 answers, Perplexity in 21. That is the rule: "By law all gas businesses must be on the Gas Safe Register", says its official site. The dentist is in the same position: "Illegal practice is when someone who is not registered with the GDC offers or provides dental services", writes the General Dental Council. Yet Gemini cites that register in only 13 answers of 26, and only two say it is mandatory. ChatGPT cites it 9 times, 7 of them next to the British Dental Association, the profession's trade union, as an organisation a good dentist would be a member of. Perplexity never cites it. For driving instructors, whom GOV.UK lets charge for lessons once they hold their ADI certificate, Gemini cites the register 17 times, ChatGPT twice. The locksmith is the reverse: there is no register, and that is where Gemini insists most. It advises an MLA member in 25 answers of 26, and 5 times it calls the MLA the authoritative body for the trade. Of the three engines' 78 answers, one says that locksmithing is unregulated. In Brazil, we saw Gemini send customers to check the estate agents' register, and ChatGPT never: Gemini says check the realtor's CRECI.

What it means if you are the business

If your trade has a legal register - gas, dentistry, driving instruction -, do not count on the assistant to send your customers to check it: it does so one time in two, or less. Write on your website, as text, your registration number and the link to the official register where it can be checked. If your trade has none, like locksmithing, your customers will look for the badge the assistant named; say in text what can be checked about you: criminal record check, insurance, any membership. These are reasonable steps, not levers with a known effect: we did not measure whether a displayed registration number makes a business more likely to be named. And if Gemini sends your customers to check a badge rather than your trade's register, what does it say about your business? The audit shows you, question by question.

And your business, what do the assistants say?

The Waseit free audit puts to ChatGPT and Gemini the questions your customers type, in their language and for your city. In about 60 seconds you see a score out of 100, the businesses named instead of you, the questions where you do not appear and, when Gemini searched Google, the pages it actually read - where what it says about you comes from. It is free, with no account and no credit card; an email address only unlocks the competitors' names and the action plan. It is a dated snapshot, not a ranking: answers change from one day to the next, and we promise no position.

What this does not prove

• These are the models' answers through their APIs, without the user's location; ChatGPT and Gemini answered without web search, Perplexity searched by design.
• Each question was asked once, on July 31, 2026; ChatGPT is gpt-4o-mini, not necessarily the model behind the ChatGPT app, and the models may have changed since.
• The measurement covers thirteen cities in Great Britain and four trades: 26 answers per trade and per engine. An answer counts as soon as it cites the register, as advice or about a named business.
• Each register's status is read on its source: Gas Safe Register, General Dental Council, GOV.UK and the MLA. That locksmithing is unregulated is the MLA's own statement; we found no text saying otherwise, but an absence is hard to prove.
• This edition describes assistants' answers; it is not legal advice.