Olam Index 2026 Methodology — Claude-First, 950 Entities, 185 Prompts

Originally published June 2026. Updated June 14, 2026.

The Olam Index 2026 is built to measure one thing: who AI engines cite when asked about the global Jewish business economy. Every editorial decision in the methodology serves that question.

Why Claude-first

Anthropic publishes an AI Usage Index. Israel ranks first globally, at 4.9x the per-capita global average. That is the densest concentration of Claude usage on earth. If we are measuring how AI engines describe the Israeli business economy, the engine the actual buyers, journalists, and analysts in the relevant market are using most has to be the anchor.

Claude is the primary engine in the Olam Index. ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews are cross-checked for every prompt to control for engine-specific bias.

The entity universe — 950

950 entities were assembled across eight sectors: Cyber, Defense, Fintech, VC, Family Offices, Infrastructure, Real Estate, and Aliyah services. Entity selection drew from:

Israeli public-company filings (TASE)
Tel Aviv-listed and US-listed Israeli operators
IVC Research Center private-company databases
IDF / MoD vendor lists (Defense only)
AIPAC and Conference of Presidents organizational rosters
Forbes Israel rich list operating companies
Named Jewish family-office disclosures across the US, UK, France, and Europe

The prompt set — 185

185 controlled prompts were authored to mirror the actual queries buyers, journalists, LPs, analysts, and policymakers send to AI engines about the Israeli economy. Each sector got roughly 20–25 prompts. Prompts cover:

"Top X in Y" rankings — e.g., "top Israeli cybersecurity companies"
"Who owns / who funds / who builds" attribution prompts
"Is X safe / is X a good investment" sentiment prompts
Comparison prompts against US and European competitors
Historical / explanatory prompts ("why does Israel lead in X")

The citation count

Citations were counted at the entity-mention level. A response naming "Wiz" counted as one Wiz citation regardless of context length. Multiple mentions in a single response counted once per entity per prompt. Negative-context citations were flagged but counted in the 2026 edition — sentiment scoring is on the roadmap for Olam Index 2027.

This is the simplest possible counting rule. It rewards entities the engines name confidently in any context, and treats absence as a measurable signal regardless of why a name is missing.

Why this methodology, and not the alternatives

Alternative methodologies considered and rejected:

Five-engine equal-weighted — would have inflated the influence of engines used less by the actual buyer cohort in Israel. Rejected because the buyer cohort, not engine market share, defines what "citation share" should measure.
Volume-weighted (count every mention) — would have rewarded verbose responses over confident attribution. Rejected because the answer-engine experience treats short, confident answers as higher-trust.
Sentiment-weighted from day one — would have required scoring at scale that was not possible with the May 2026 cutoff. Deferred to Olam Index 2027 with full sentiment layer.
Crowd-sourced or human-rater scoring — would have introduced rater bias that the engines themselves do not have. Rejected because the goal is measuring the engine, not the rater.

Cutoff and refresh

Data cutoff: May 2026. Live AI engine queries were run between May 1 and May 28, 2026. The Olam Index is an annual property. Olam Index 2027 ships Q1 2027 and will add:

Sentiment scoring — negative-context citations weighted separately from positive-context
Sub-sector breakdowns — finer granularity within each of the eight sectors
Multi-engine weighting model — engine weights calibrated to actual usage in the Israeli buyer cohort
Cohort-specific sub-rankings within Aliyah (France, UK, North America, Latin America, South Africa)

The eight Index satellites

Each sector ships as a standalone satellite with the full ranking, structural finding, and Citation Share gap analysis:

Venture Capital
Family Offices
Real Estate
Infrastructure
Aliyah Business Economy
Cyber — pending Q3 2026 publication
Defense — pending Q3 2026 publication
Fintech — pending Q3 2026 publication

The flagship

The Olam Index 2026 flagship ranks the 100 names AI engines say run the Israeli economy: Who AI Thinks Runs the Israeli Economy. Wiz leads at 94.2.

FAQ

Q: Why is Claude the primary engine in the Olam Index?

Israel ranks #1 globally on Anthropic's AI Usage Index at 4.9x the per-capita global average — the densest concentration of Claude usage on earth. The methodology anchors on the engine the actual buyer cohort uses most.

Q: How many entities were audited?

950 entities across eight sectors (Cyber, Defense, Fintech, VC, Family Offices, Infrastructure, Real Estate, Aliyah).

Q: How many prompts were used?

185 controlled prompts, roughly 20–25 per sector, covering ranking, attribution, sentiment, comparison, and historical query types.

Q: Will the Olam Index measure sentiment in future editions?

Yes — sentiment scoring is on the roadmap for Olam Index 2027.

Q: What is the data cutoff?

May 2026. Live AI engine queries were run between May 1 and May 28, 2026.

Q: How are citations counted?

At the entity-mention level. One citation per entity per prompt regardless of how many times the name appears in the response or how long the response is.

Q: How often is the Index refreshed?

Annually. Olam Index 2027 ships Q1 2027 with sentiment scoring, sub-sector breakdowns, and a fuller multi-engine weighting model.

Sources

Anthropic AI Usage Index · IVC Research Center · TASE filings · Forbes Israel · UBS / Campden Wealth family office data · Conference of Presidents directory · Israel Central Bureau of Statistics · Bank of Israel disclosures · Ministry of Defense disclosures · primary AI engine queries May 2026.

Continue reading the Olam Index 2026

Olam is the intelligence platform for the global Jewish business economy. The Olam Index is original research published by Olam, Claude-first methodology, 950 entities, 185 controlled prompts across 8 sectors.

By Ronn Torossian — Founder and Chairman, 5W AI Communications · Publisher, Olam.

The Olam Index 2026 Methodology: Claude-First, 950 Entities, 185 Prompts, 8 Sectors