Test · gr.AI

Does AI Send You to the Official Site?

by Cătălin Popa · updated 2026-10-28

The Romanian state has a website for almost everything: road vignettes, criminal records, land register extracts. So does a small industry of sites that do exactly the same thing, for a commission and under a name suspiciously close to the institution's. Until now, Google made the choice, somewhere between position 1 and position 4. Now an AI assistant makes it, in a single sentence. We read 147 of those sentences.

Illustration: on a black background, a strip of Romanian cross-stitch embroidery with red and black rhombuses and stars on the left, and in the centre an old metal shield with a stylized eagle, outlined in blue, yellow and red. Circuits run from the embroidery to the shield and from there to three panels. The first: how often the assistants point to the official site: ChatGPT 90%, the AI summary in Google Search 80%, Google AI Mode 73%, Gemini 56% (named in the text). The second: paid intermediaries in 53% of AI Mode answers and 50% of AI summaries; ChatGPT 3%, Gemini 0%. The third, on the land register extract: ANCPI's online platforms have been down since August, Google points to intermediaries, Gemini declines to answer. The title, in Romanian: Does AI send you to the official site? — A shield with an eagle, drawn to look like an official emblem without being one: exactly the problem with sites that imitate institutions. The figures come from our test, 27-28 October 2026.

The short answer

If I ask an AI assistant how to get a document online, does it send me to the official site?

ChatGPT sends you to the state 9 times out of 10. Google's AI sends you to the state too, but in half of its answers it also shows you the counter next door, the one that charges a commission. On 27 and 28 October 2026 we asked ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Mode and Google Search 15 administrative questions, logged out: 147 answers. ChatGPT linked to the official site in 90% of them and to an intermediary in 3%. AI Mode: 73% with an official link, 53% with an intermediary. The AI summary in Google Search: 80% and 50%. Logged-out Gemini gives no links; it named the official site in 56% of answers and declined to answer three times, citing safety. Where the state's site is down, as ANCPI's platforms have been since August, the first working link belongs, predictably, to someone selling something.

Part 1

The test: 15 tasks, 147 answers

We chose 15 tasks people often do online: the road vignette, the Fetești bridge toll, passport and ID card appointments, a criminal record certificate, a land register extract, a company registration certificate, checking car insurance and roadworthiness, the annual tax return, a tax clearance certificate, the European health insurance card, a traffic fine, a car registration appointment and property tax. For each we set the official site in advance: erovinieta.ro, hub.mai.gov.ro, ANCPI, the trade register, aida.info.ro, RAR, the tax authority, CNAS, ghiseul.ro.

We asked the questions logged out and with no history, on two different days: 4 times each in ChatGPT, twice each in Gemini, Google AI Mode and Google Search, including the AI summary above the results. Every cited site was classified by a separate evaluator who did not know which engine had picked it: official site, other public site, guide, commercial intermediary, site imitating an institution, or non-existent address. We wanted no way to fool ourselves.

How often each one points to the official site

ChatGPT · 60 answers90%with a link to the official site. Intermediaries: 3%.
Google, AI summary · 3080%with an official link. Intermediaries: 50%. The summary appeared on all 30 searches.
Google AI Mode · 3073%with an official link. Intermediaries: 53%.
Gemini · 2756%name the official site in the text. No links and no intermediaries; 3 refusals.

Part 2

ChatGPT points to the state

The most boring result of the test is also the best one. In 60 answers, ChatGPT started with the official site 38 times and with another public site 21 times, such as a county land registry office or RAR. No answer started with an intermediary. The only two intermediaries showed up for the company registration certificate, next to the link to the trade register. Invented addresses: zero.

9 of 10 answers with the official source, zero intermediaries in first place. For a product accused daily of making things up, that is a good score.

Part 3

Google also shows you the counter next door

In its regular results, Google does its job: the official site ranks first in 16 of 30 searches, at an average position of 1.7 when it is in the top 10. The problem is the neighbourhood. 18 of 30 result pages have at least one intermediary in the top 10, and 6 have a site carrying an institution's name without belonging to it. We counted: 82 of 258 results, almost a third.

Google's AI reads from the same pages and takes the neighbourhood along with them. AI Mode's first link was an intermediary or an imitation site in 7 of 30 answers. For the road vignette, the bridge toll and the land register extract, the AI summary in Search never linked to the official site. The largest index on the planet, asked about a road vignette, recommends the commission.

Intermediaries in the answer: ChatGPT 3%, Google's AI about 50%, Google's regular results 60% of pages. Google's AI looks more like its own results than like ChatGPT.

Part 4

Where the path to the official site breaks

The percentages hide three different situations: an official site that does not work, an everyday name that points elsewhere, and addresses that do not exist.

The land register extract: the official site is down
Here the state built its own competition. On 20 August, ANCPI announced that e-Terra was back and that MyEterra and the other platforms would return “in stages”. On 28 October, in stages still meant zero: epay.ancpi.ro and myeterra.ancpi.ro did not even resolve in DNS. ChatGPT loyally sent people to ANCPI, including to addresses that do not respond. Google's AI was more pragmatic and sent them wherever the door was open: intermediaries and a site carrying the ANCPI name without belonging to it. Gemini preferred not to get involved. The citizen pays a commission to a third party, for a document the state sells for less, in a shop that has been closed for more than two months.
“Registrul Auto”: every AI assistant picks RAR
For the car registration appointment, ChatGPT, Gemini and AI Mode pointed to RAR (rarom.ro). Registration appointments are handled by DGPCI on hub.mai.gov.ro. ChatGPT listed it once in 4 runs, in second place; regular Google Search showed it every time. “Registrul Auto” is an ambiguous everyday phrase, and RAR does handle a real step before registration for imported cars. Someone who only wants the appointment still ends up on a different site.
Three addresses that do not exist
Gemini built two plausible addresses, epasapoarte.mai.gov.ro and aida.baar.ro; the correct address for checking car insurance is aida.info.ro. AI Mode wrote “Ghișeol.ro” instead of ghiseul.ro. All three look credible and none of them opens.
The tasks with no problems
For the criminal record, the annual tax return, the ID card, the roadworthiness check and property tax, every engine named the official site in almost every answer. For the criminal record, all of them pointed to the Interior Ministry, although AI Mode also placed intermediaries next to it.

What it means for institutions

01An official site that is down leaves a vacancy.
The assistants still look for an answer and recommend whatever they find working. Two months of “restarting in stages” are two months of free advertising for intermediaries.
02Explain the everyday names.
People say “Registrul Auto”, “the bridge toll”, “the land book”. The institution's site should use these words too and say clearly where each step happens.
03Watch for sites imitating your name.
Sites using an institution's name also show up in Google's AI. It is worth checking regularly what the assistants answer about your own services.
04Put the official fee on the page.
Intermediaries show themselves through a higher price. An official page that states the exact fee in lei gives the assistant the figure to compare against.

What we do not know

The test has clear limits:

15 questions, 147 answers, two days. ChatGPT ran 4 times per question, the others twice each.
Logged-out Gemini gives no links, so for Gemini we counted only the sites named in the text. 3 Gemini runs are missing (empty pages), and 3 were refusals.
Logged out, with no history, from a single computer in Romania. With an account, history and location can change the answers.
The “official site” rule was fixed before the runs. For car registration, RAR is a public site with a real role in the procedure; we counted it under “other public site”.
We made mistakes too. Our first analysis counted “Ghișeul.ro” as a non-existent address, because our script tripped over the letter ș. We fixed it before the final figures.

Frequently asked questions

Can I rely on ChatGPT for the official site?: In our test, ChatGPT pointed to the official site in 9 of 10 answers and to an intermediary in 3%. Still check the address before you pay anything.
Why do intermediaries show up in Google's AI?: AI Mode and the AI summary cite from the same pages as the regular results, where intermediaries and imitation sites take almost a third of the top 10.
How do I spot an intermediary?: It charges more than the official fee and usually says, in the page footer, that it does not act on behalf of the institution. Official state sites are usually on .gov.ro or on the institution's own domain.
Where do I get a land register extract now?: On 28 October 2026, ANCPI's online platforms for citizens were not working; ancpi.ro announced they would restart in stages. You can request the extract at the land registry office or from a notary. Check ancpi.ro to see whether the platforms are back.
Does Gemini recommend official sites?: Logged out, Gemini gives no links. It named the official site in 56% of answers and recommended no intermediary, but it gave two non-existent addresses and declined to answer three times, on the road vignette and the land register extract.

Where the data comes from

Our test. 15 questions in Romanian, fixed before the first run, with the official site set in advance. ChatGPT logged out, 4 times per question; logged-out Gemini, Google AI Mode and Google Search, twice each; 27 and 28 October 2026, with no history and non-essential cookies rejected. The cited sites were classified by a separate evaluator who did not know the engine.
Address checks. DNS and the response of each official site, on 27 and 28 October 2026, including through the public resolver 1.1.1.1. The ANCPI notice, read on ancpi.ro on 28 October.