5 Things 20.03.26

Claude vs The Pentagon - ChatGPT vs Search - Are research suppliers all the same? - The latest on SEO - The one thing that drove Canva's success

Author

Gideon Barker
March 20, 2026

5 Things

From Gideon Barker, founder of Customer iQ. View the newsletter archive.

Hi reader

Here we are racing through March - shortly to cross the finish line on Q1 and yet it barely feels like the year has got going.

For this week’s newsletter, I have picked out a word from one of the 5 Things below to focus on, and that word is…

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Don’t forget to get your personal customer-centricity score by visiting customer-iq.com/diagnostic.

Your selection of 5 Things for this week:

  1. Claude may have fallen out with the Pentagon but that didn’t stop it from identifying 1,000 targets for the US strikes on Iran. These feel like even more very frightening times when war becomes reliant on the accuracy of AI tools. Read more on the Washington post article (firewalled) via AI Valley.

  1. Ready for your brand to be found via AI tools? Oh, wait - this analysis by Rand Fishkin suggests that after c.3.5 years since launch, ChatGPT search is <3% of total. No doubt it will grow - but would you be happy with 3% share after 3 years? And where will it reach its plateau?

  1. All research suppliers sound the same. Too harsh, or maybe you’d agree? I did some quick analysis on 50 of them and found some (very) recurring themes in their key messaging. Read more on my LinkedIn.

  1. What do we need to do in an AI-world in terms of SEO? Is everything upended now? Get some sage advice from AgencyUK’s Head of SEO & Tech via this NewDigitalAge article.

  1. The ONE word that Canva’s CMO Zak Kitschke used as their single biggest reason behind Canva’s success? Empathy. Read more via Uncensored CMO’s The One Thing.

Thanks for reading 🖖