Definition
What this term means
AI systems capable of processing, understanding, and generating multiple types of content, including text, images, audio, and video, within a single model. Multimodal AI can interpret a product photograph, read text overlaid on an image, understand a spoken query, and generate a response that combines text with visual elements. Models like GPT-4o and Gemini are natively multimodal.
Why it matters
The business impact
As AI becomes multimodal, brand visibility extends beyond text content. Product images, video content, infographics, and audio all become discoverable and citable by AI systems. Brands that optimise across multiple content formats, with descriptive metadata, alt text, transcripts, and structured data, gain visibility in channels that text-only optimisation misses entirely.
Used in context
How you might use this term
“An e-commerce brand optimised their product images with detailed alt text, structured product data, and video transcripts. Google's multimodal AI began featuring their products in visual search results and AI-generated shopping recommendations, driving a new source of qualified traffic.”