AI can read information from across the web and give us an answer in seconds. But if fewer people visit the original websites, who keeps paying to create that information?

The internet feels free.

News.

Reviews.

Recipes.

Travel guides.

Product comparisons.

Blogs.

But none of this is actually free to produce.

Someone pays journalists.

Someone tests the products.

Someone takes the photos.

Someone maintains the website.

Someone pays for the servers.

For decades, much of the web has paid for those costs by attracting people.

A simple version of the system looks like this:

Content

↓

Google Search

↓

Click

↓

Website

↓

Advertising / Subscription / Commerce

AI search is beginning to change the middle of that chain.

AI Can Give You the Answer Without the Click

Traditional search gives you links.

You choose one.

You visit the website.

The website gets a visitor.

AI search can work differently.

Ask a question and the AI can use information from several websites to produce an answer directly on the search page.

You may no longer need to visit any of them.

Pew Research Center analyzed the Google search behavior of 900 U.S. adults.

When a Google results page did not contain an AI summary, users clicked a traditional search result during about 15% of visits.

When an AI summary appeared, that fell to:

8%

And users clicked a source link inside the AI summary in only about:

1%

of visits.

Those numbers don't mean every AI search behaves the same way.

But they illustrate the problem.

If the answer appears before the click, fewer people may need the website.

Google Sees It Differently

There is an important other side to this story.

Google says AI search is not simply destroying web traffic.

The company says its search engine still sends billions of clicks to websites every day and argues that AI features encourage people to ask more and more complex questions.

Google has also said that clicks coming from AI-powered search can be higher quality, with visitors spending more time on the sites they reach.

And in 2026, Google announced additional controls over how publishers' content can appear in AI-powered Search experiences.

So saying:

"AI has killed website traffic."

would be an exaggeration.

But publishers are clearly worried about where the system is heading.

Publishers Are Already Asking for Money

This is no longer a theoretical argument.

Publishers in several countries have challenged how AI search systems use their content.

French media groups, for example, have argued that Google's AI-generated summaries reduce traffic to the original publishers while using information produced by those publishers.

Penske Media — owner of publications including Rolling Stone, Billboard and Variety — has also sued Google over AI Overviews.

The argument behind these disputes is surprisingly simple:

We pay to create the information.

Your AI uses the information to answer the question.

But if the reader never visits us, how do we get paid?

That question goes to the heart of the economics of the web.

Why Does One Click Matter So Much?

A click isn't money by itself.

But a visitor creates an opportunity to make money.

Imagine a travel website.

Someone searches:

"What are the best family hotels in Paris?"

In the traditional web model, that person might visit a travel site.

They read reviews.

Compare hotels.

Look at prices.

Maybe click a booking link.

The website can make money from advertising or a booking commission.

Now imagine an AI reads several travel sites and simply answers:

Here are three hotels that fit your needs.

The traveler gets what they wanted.

But they may never visit the sites that produced the reviews.

The information was still useful.

The economic opportunity moved somewhere else.

This Could Eventually Become a Problem for AI Too

Here's the strange part.

AI needs good information.

And good information has to come from somewhere.

Journalists investigate stories.

Experts write guides.

Researchers collect data.

Reviewers test products.

Small specialist websites spend years building knowledge.

But what happens if producing that information becomes less profitable?

Over time, there could be less incentive to create expensive original content.

That creates a paradox:

AI needs the web.

But AI could weaken some of the business models that pay for the web.

So the problem isn't only about publishers losing traffic.

It could eventually become a problem for the information ecosystem that AI itself depends on.

So Who Pays for the Web?

Nobody knows the final answer yet.

But several possible models are already emerging.

1. AI Companies Pay for Content

The most direct solution is licensing.

An AI company pays a publisher for permission to use its content.

AI companies have already signed licensing and partnership agreements with publishers and media organizations.

That creates a new possibility.

A publisher could make money from:

Humans reading its content

and

AI systems using its content.

But there's an obvious problem.

A major global publisher has negotiating power.

A small independent website may not.

That means licensing alone may not solve the problem for the entire open web.

2. Readers Pay Directly

Another answer is subscription.

Paid newsletters.

Memberships.

Premium research.

Specialist communities.

Exclusive data.

If readers believe:

"I want information from this source specifically."

then they may pay for direct access.

This could make brands more important.

In a world where AI can summarize generic information instantly, the strongest websites may increasingly be the ones people intentionally return to.

3. Advertising Moves Into AI

Advertising may not disappear either.

It may simply change location.

Traditional digital advertising was built largely around human attention.

Search ads.

Display ads.

Video ads.

How do we become part of the AI's decision?

McKinsey describes the emerging possibility of an agentic advertising economy, where AI systems play a larger role in product discovery and purchasing.

That could move some advertising value away from simply getting something in front of human eyes and toward influencing what gets selected or purchased.

This market is still early.

But it shows why fewer website clicks don't necessarily mean advertising disappears.

Advertising itself may evolve.

Google Needs the Web Too

Google faces its own version of this problem.

Search needs websites.

AI-powered search also needs information from the web.

If publishers eventually stop producing valuable content because they can't make money from it, that isn't good for Google either.

Google has been experimenting with new publisher partnerships and giving website owners more controls over how content is used in AI-powered Search.

The relationship is still being negotiated.

AI platforms need information.

Publishers need distribution and revenue.

Neither side benefits from an internet where high-quality original information stops being produced.

The Small Website Has a Bigger Problem

Large publishers have options.

A major newspaper can sell subscriptions.

A global media company can negotiate licensing agreements.

A famous creator can build a paid audience.

But what about a small travel blog?

An independent product-review website?

A niche industry publication?

A specialist hobby site?

Many of these businesses depend heavily on search traffic.

If an AI uses their information while sending fewer visitors back, they may have less bargaining power than the largest publishers.

That makes the AI-search debate about more than Google versus big media companies.

It's also about the economics of the independent web.

The Web Probably Isn't Going Away

It's easy to take this argument too far.

People still want original sources.

They want detailed reviews.

They compare products.

They shop.

They watch videos.

They join communities.

They follow people and brands they trust.

And AI can't replace every kind of online experience.

Even in Pew's study, people still clicked external links when AI summaries appeared.

Google also argues that AI search creates new kinds of searches and can send more engaged visitors to websites.

So the future probably isn't:

AI kills the web.

A more interesting possibility is:

AI changes which websites are worth visiting.

What Becomes Valuable When AI Can Summarize Everything?

If AI can instantly answer a simple factual question, websites may need to offer something more.

Original reporting.

First-hand experience.

Unique data.

New analysis.

Communities.

Useful tools.

Calculators.

Original photography and video.

Expertise people trust.

And perhaps most importantly:

A reason to visit the source itself.

Simply rewriting information that already exists becomes less valuable when AI can do that instantly.

Creating something that didn't exist before becomes more valuable.

The Old Formula Is Changing

For years, one of the basic economic formulas of the internet was:

Create content → Get clicks → Make money

That formula isn't disappearing tomorrow.

But it is becoming less certain.

The future may involve a mixture of:

Advertising

Subscriptions

AI content licensing

Commerce

Direct sales

New forms of AI advertising

The web will probably find new ways to get paid.

It always has.

But AI introduces a strange new problem.

The cost of producing an answer is falling rapidly.

The cost of producing the information behind that answer is not zero.

So one of the biggest questions of the AI internet may not be:

Who gives the best answer?

It may be:

Who pays to create the information that makes the answer possible?

If AI can answer everything using the web,

the web may have to find a new way to get paid.

BEYOND THE OBVIOUS.

Sources

Pew Research Center — Google Users Are Less Likely to Click on Links When an AI Summary Appears

https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/07/22/google-users-are-less-likely-to-click-on-links-when-an-ai-summary-appears-in-the-results/

Google — AI Search Is Driving More Queries and Higher-Quality Clicks

https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/search/ai-search-driving-more-queries-higher-quality-clicks/

Reuters — French Media Challenges Google Over AI Search

https://www.reuters.com/world/french-media-asks-french-anti-trust-watchdog-act-googles-ai-2026-08-11/

McKinsey — The Agentic Advertising Economy

https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/technology-media-and-telecommunications/our-insights/the-agentic-advertising-economy-from-attention-to-action

Search This Blog

OVIQQ

If AI Answers Everything, Who Pays for the Web?