James Vincent for The Verge covered my beat, or more aptly beat the same drum, as I today.
Vincent’s article is about how AI is ruining the internet is fucking great. Well sourced, and well written. The article also covers something I pointed out a few months ago, that AI will turn the web into a vomit-filled snow globe of information where accuracy and origin are unknowable.
Please check out his article, and if you like read my article or check out the podcast, AI Will Break Online Search from March.
AI is killing the old web, and the new web struggles to be born
The problem, in extremely broad strokes, is this. Years ago, the web used to be a place where individuals made things. They made homepages, forums, and mailing lists, and a small bit of money with it. Then companies decided they could do things better. They created slick and feature-rich platforms and threw their doors open for anyone to join. They put boxes in front of us, and we filled those boxes with text and images, and people came to see the content of those boxes. The companies chased scale, because once enough people gather anywhere, there’s usually a way to make money off them. But AI changes these assumptions.