It occurred to me today that the incentives to post content online are going to change dramatically in coming years[^1]. Sometime in the past month my internet search habits flipped from being mostly search engine with some AI to being mostly AI with some search engine. That is to say, rather than Google[^2] something I now just ask ChatGPT with the search feature enabled. You can even set up shortcuts to do this so that you can type in your browser bar and go straight to AI search. This is very much how I like it: I get to start with a blank slate, no distractions, and ask for information. _No distractions._ This is very important. However, having the AI sit in between me and various websites means I never actually see those sites. Or not usually anyway. Sometimes I'll click through, but not often. Generally we post online in the hopes that others will read our content. Maybe it's just to inform, maybe its for SEO. Regardless, authors want people to read their content, _directly_. Having an AI as an intermediary between the reader and the author is going to change the incentives to write content online. Theoretically people will be less likely to put content online, but I'm not sure how it will play out. It's going to be an interesting few years as AI gains in power and adoption and "the internet" shifts in response. [^1]: Yes, this is a prediction, but hear me out. [^2]: I actually use Kagi, but it's not well known as a verb.