Breaking the Internet's Flywheel
Who Pays the Creators in a World of AI?
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In this article, we will learn & discuss -
How advertising led the monetisation framework supports content creators today
How advancements in AI will disrupt the existing framework
What is likely to be the monetisation framework for content creators in future
Let’s start..
The invention of the Internet has democratized access to information. The internet in itself didn’t create/produce information; the information was generated by the content creators over a period of time. The flywheel of gaining information via the internet was set in motion because of two primary levers -
The advent of search engines made it possible to find specific, relevant information within the vast expanse of the internet
Advertisement revenue was developed as a mechanism to reward the hard work of content creators, motivating people to create more & more content
The flywheel of content was thriving because it was creating a win-win situation for all of the parties -
Internet users were getting access to immense information
Content creators were getting monetary rewards for their hard work
Advertisers were getting the unprecedented reach
But this flywheel is set to get disrupted. The adoption of AI is slowly changing the ways users use the internet to access information.
Pre - AI Workflow: User finds the website → Visits the website → Browses the content to answer his query → Might / Might not interact with ads on the website
Post - AI Workflow: User opens LLM of choice → Enters his query → LLM provides the summary from the relevant source
LLMs by the current design prevent the inflow of traffic to the websites hosting the content. The irony is that the intelligence of LLM is also built on the basis on this very content, which will soon be devoid of any traffic.
As a consequence, in the longer term, content creators will have no motivation to generate new content, leading to a state where the knowledge of LLMs will also stagnate.
The question now becomes, how do we find the right monetisation framework to review the flywheel of new content creation?
As LLMs continue to improve slowly & steadily, more and more users will flock to LLM-powered chat applications to find answers to their queries. This essentially means that the new monetisation contract needs to be established between the LLM powered chat applications and the content creators.
As an alternate effect, a lot of low quality content which is available on the internet might get weeded out. Because to answer any question, LLM will ensure that they are referring to the best available sources on the internet and rewarding them commensurately.
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About Author
Shailesh Sharma! I help PMs and business leaders excel in Product, Strategy, and AI using First Principles Thinking. For more, check out my Live cohort course, PM Interview Mastery Course, Cracking Strategy, and other Resources
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