AI search could kill the web without new quality signals and revenue models
Harvard Business School assistant professor Alex Chan warns that AI-powered search is destroying content publishers by diverting traffic and revenue, potentially collapsing the open web. His economic model shows that AI answers not only reduce clicks but also erode publishers' ability to accumulate quality signals like subscribers, backlinks, and reputation. Chan argues against simple compensation or bans, instead advocating for new signals such as provenance, diversity prices, and exploration credits to rebuild the ecosystem.
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