For over two decades, the web has thrived on a simple but powerful economic model – search. This model, perfected by Google, has driven billions in traffic to publishers, powered ad networks, and created a sprawling digital ecosystem. But that model is now at risk as AI platforms like ChatGPT, Google Gemini and Perplexity push us into an era of zero-click searches.

What are zero-click searches? These are search queries that deliver instant answers directly on the search results page, without requiring users to click through to the original source. For instance, if you ask Google for a quick fact like “How Many Subscribers Does Safaricom Have In Kenya?” the answer often appears directly on the results page, eliminating the need for further clicks. According to Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince, 75% of Google searches now end this way, without the user ever visiting the original source. This. Is. Genuinely. Worrying!

This shift has profound implications. Ten years ago, for every two pages a website had scraped by Google, it would receive one visitor in return. Today, that ratio has worsened to six pages scraped for every visitor. For newer AI platforms, it’s even more extreme – OpenAI reportedly scrapes 250 pages for every visitor sent, while Anthropic’s Claude Chatbot has an astronomical 6,000 to 1.

This fundamental change means that original content creators, like digital media publishers and bloggers are increasingly left out of the value loop. If content creators can’t derive value from their work – whether through ad revenue, subscriptions, or brand exposure – the incentive to produce original content could erode quickly. This would undermine the diversity and richness of the open web, transforming it into a shallow, hollow reflection of a previously inclusive platform.

The stakes couldn’t be higher. Without fair compensation and ethical AI-enabled content acquisition, search, and monetization practices, we risk undermining the very foundation of the free, open internet that has transformed the world as we know it. On this basis, once upon a time, Internet pioneer Marc Andreesen made the profound quote that ‘software is eating the world’. In today’s context, I’d posit ‘AI is eating the world – and everything else too’.