After reading several articles about AI, such as “AI is killing the web. Can anything save it?”, “Stack overflow is almost dead” and “Google’s AI search features are killing traffic to publishers” as well as the popular Reddit discussion “Do you believe we’re in an AI bubble?”, I have been led to think deeply about the relationship between AI and the web, and their future development.
In the past, when I needed to look up information or solve a development problem, I would go to a search engine or Stack Overflow. Now, I first ask an AI/LLM, and only turn to a search engine if I don’t get a satisfactory answer. With a search engine, you need to research to find the answer yourself. An AI/LLM, on the other hand, gives you a direct answer based on your situation (context). It feels like consulting a very experienced and courteous person, allowing you to get answers quickly and saving a lot of time on filtering and searching. However, its answers are not always correct (they can have hallucinations). At this point, one must still rely on search engines. If even search engines don’t provide a satisfactory answer, the only options left are to figure it out yourself or consult an experienced person.
Since the emergence of AI/LLMs, everyone has started using them to replace knowledge-based searches. AI/LLMs have captured traffic from search engines and the Web, becoming the new entry point for traffic. Along with mobile apps and social media, they are competing for Web traffic, making a bad situation worse for the Web’s already limited traffic. AI is killing the Web, and its demise is only a matter of time.