Cloudflare CEO warns AI and zero-click internet are killing the web's business model
Cloudflare CEO warns AI and zero-click internet are killing the web's business model | TechSpot
Reminder: the Internet has its roots from ARPANET which is designed to survive an atomic blast and openly available to learn. A dead web business model won't kill the technology that allows humans to instantly communicate. If anything a new internet may come of this once the money dries up.
Yep there is nothing stopping new web sites coming online. It's just hard to find them. Guess what was also hard in the early Internet days? Finding them. Web rings may make a big comeback.
Long live the Fediverse?
The zero click searches just haven't been monetized yet. Don't worry they are working on it
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Well the internet had a good run up to about 2008
Maybe it’s a good thing if the Internet eats itself.
If only we can somehow figure out how to bring back something like the web of the ’90s
Good?
Not that I want more AI, but killing the internets business model can only be good for the future of the internet imo.
I don't think we will like the new model though.
I mean IDK what it will be, but it will be implemented by tech bros working for tech giants.
Google is in an interesting predicament. Their ad service brings in so much revenue, but it's based on search sending traffic to places where those ads are consumed.
Boost search through Overviews and you're limiting the effectiveness and reach of your ad service. And to top it off, your search needs content to ingest and remain relevant. But if the ad revenue drops off to websites, they go out of business, so search has less stuff to ingest.
It's like a reverse flywheel, where each part is working to harm the other part. People have been pointing this out for the last couple of years, but Google search just keeps adding more to Overviews and choking off the flow.
And before you say "good, I hate ads," most of the internet today and its services are paid by ad revenue changing hands. That includes ISPs that host the Fediverse, networking and storage gear makers, pretty much everything to do with open source, and so many jobs that exist to keep the whole thing humming so we can enjoy cat memes.
If Google (or someone like Cloudflare) doesn't figure out a way to keep the money flowing, we may be watching a sea shift in how the internet has worked in the last 30 years.
I think Google can never really hope to disrupt itself. The entire company is oriented towards selling those ads. So any other internal division that tries to eliminate the ads division is going to have a very uphill battle.
IMO the industry is ripening for disruption and someone will come along with a new idea for how to incentivize content generation and it will very likely continue to involve some heavy commercial marketing.