OpenAI's o3 Goes Mainstream, Google's AI Mode Expands & GEO Click-Share Data

Welcome to the AI Daily Digest for February 19th, 2026. Today we're covering the broader rollout of OpenAI's o3 model, Google's expanding AI Mode experiment, and the first major click-share dataset comparing AI search visibility to traditional organic rankings.

OpenAI has made its o3 reasoning model available to all ChatGPT Plus and Pro subscribers. The model shows a roughly 2x improvement over o1 on coding and mathematical reasoning benchmarks, and OpenAI has reduced its per-token cost by 80% compared to the original o1 release.

The broader availability signals OpenAI's intent to make advanced reasoning a standard feature rather than a premium add-on, which will intensify competition with Google's Gemini 3.1 Pro.

Google has expanded its AI Mode experiment to approximately 20% of US users. Alongside this expansion, the company has redesigned how links appear within AI-generated answers, making them larger and more visually prominent in response to publisher complaints about traffic loss.

A new dataset from SEO analytics firm BrightEdge reveals that in finance and healthcare verticals, the top-cited source in an AI answer receives three times the click engagement of the traditional number-one organic result. This is the clearest data yet on the value of GEO citation placement.

The BrightEdge data is a call to action for content teams. If you are in a high-intent vertical like finance, health, or legal, prioritize being cited in AI answers over chasing traditional rank positions.

For developers, the o3 rollout at reduced cost is an opportunity to integrate advanced reasoning into products that previously couldn't justify the expense.

That's the digest for February 19th. Stay tuned tomorrow for more updates from the rapidly evolving AI and search landscape.