AI is Destroying the Internet: The Collapse of Free Content & What Comes Next

Artificial intelligence is undermining the foundation of the internet

Moscow, July 26, 2025  –  The internet as we know it today, based on free access to information financed by advertising, is under unprecedented pressure. Not from cyberattacks or market bubbles as in the past, but from the rise of artificial intelligence. Chatbots and AI search engines are radically changing how we search for, consume, and—above all—value information.

From clicks to answers: a silent revolution

The way people access information online is undergoing a profound shift. Where search engines once led us to dozens of websites brimming with content, we now receive a ready-made answer directly from tools like ChatGPT, Google’s AI overviews, or Perplexity. This efficiency seems like a boon for users, but it has dramatic consequences for the economic ecosystem behind the web.

“The nature of the internet has completely changed,” says Prashanth Chandrasekar, CEO of Stack Overflow. “AI is choking traffic to most content sites.” The implication is clear: fewer visitors means less ad revenue. And without revenue, the flow of free content dries up.

The looming end of the advertising model

For decades, the internet has operated under an unwritten social contract: users receive free content, companies show them ads, and websites earn their keep. AI breaks this chain. When a chatbot provides an accurate summary or advice on, for example, legal matters, medical advice, or culinary recipes, the user no longer has a reason to click through.

For media companies and content creators, this is an existential threat. Newsrooms, blogs, forums, niche websites—all are losing traffic and, with it, their primary source of income. Small, independent creators are hit hardest: they lack legal teams or technological protection to defend their content.

AI is eating its own foundation: an industry between cajoling and fighting

The paradox is stark: AI models are trained on the immense amount of human-generated web content. Without the web, there would be no usable AI. But now that these systems base their answers on that same content, without directing users to the source, they undermine their own breeding ground. Without sustainable compensation, we risk eventually creating an information ecosystem in which virtually no new, original content is created.

The media industry’s reaction is divided. Major publishers like The New York Times are suing OpenAI and Microsoft for unauthorized use of content. Meanwhile, other media companies are forging commercial deals with AI developers, hoping for revenue or influence.

This “wheedle and fight” policy is indicative of the confusion in the sector. On the one hand, they are dependent on traffic, while on the other, they are searching for a new place in the AI-driven information chain. Attempts to block AI crawlers, such as blocking GPTBot or modifying robots.txt files, offer only temporary relief.

From search engine to AI browser

AI tools are no longer limited to questions and answers. They’re also taking over tasks that used to be handled across multiple websites: travel planning, product comparisons, restaurant reservations. OpenAI is developing an AI agent called “Operator” that performs tasks autonomously without user intervention—and therefore without any traffic to websites.

The impact is systemic. Not only content creators are losing their visitors; e-commerce platforms, educational institutions, and even search engine companies are also at risk of cannibalizing their own services.

New models and legal pressure

Efforts are emerging to turn the tide. Some AI companies are now explicitly citing sources with links or considering revenue sharing with rights holders. Others, such as You.com or Brave Search, are relying on privacy-friendly and fair-pay approaches. The European Union is also developing regulations requiring AI companies to be transparent about data sources and compensation structures (such as in the AI Act and the Digital Services Act).

However, these initiatives are currently fragmented. There is no internationally binding framework enforcing content protection in the AI context. Major players outside the EU, such as China or the US, apply much looser standards.

Inequality is growing – Who pays for the future of knowledge?

Moreover, AI threatens global information equality. Large English-language websites have more resources to protect themselves or negotiate licensing revenue. Small minority-language websites, local journalists, or educational nonprofits in the Global South are quietly disappearing, even though their work is incorporated into language models. There is a risk that AI will widen the digital divide—not narrow it.

A fundamental question arises: who contributes to the creation of knowledge if no one profits from it anymore? Academic publications, medical forums, consumer reviews, niche blogs—they all risk becoming irrelevant in an AI-dominated internet where answers circulate without origin. Information becomes detached from its creator, from context, and from responsibility.

We are seeing the emergence of a system where AI feeds on information from the past, with no guarantees that tomorrow’s knowledge will emerge.

Hope for a resilient response

Yet, the internet has proven remarkably resilient in the past. The rise of social media, the dominance of apps, the explosion of video platforms—the web reinvented itself time and again. Perhaps it will succeed this time as well. Perhaps a more robust model will emerge where creators are compensated, AI companies take responsibility, and users once again value the original source.

What is certain: the free internet is no longer a given. If we want information to remain freely accessible and sustainable, we will need to make new agreements about value, rights, and ownership in the AI era.

ⓒ Antonio Georgopalis