When AI Answers Everything, Does the Open Web Still Stand a Chance?
The Death Knell of Digital Search
Kyle Chayka's Infinite Scroll column examines what happens to the internet when AI chatbots answer our questions directly instead of sending us through search engines. Google and its peers once served as portals to the wider web; now that role is fading. Chayka asks whether the internet as we know it can survive the shift, weighing the cultural and economic stakes for publishers and readers alike.
Companies such as Google used to be our portals to the rest of the web. Can the internet as we know it survive when A.I. answers all of our questions?
- gwbas1c
> But I would really prefer if Search just worked the way it did in the first place.
Which is one thing technologists often screw up: They misinterpret how people react to change; and they misinterpret how people really use their products.
Google Search used to be (and still is) a way to find places on the internet. As much as I like AI in searches, I agree; when I want to find the thing, I don't want AI getting in the way.
- austinthetaco
I havent made the leap yet, but it's pushing me closer and closer to a paid service like kagi. The thought of paying a subscription for search is abhorrent but it might be the only option for sanity.
- cobertos
AI web search is really only as good as the index it is relying on. Maybe it can generate stuff without needing to search but...
Just hope that the index quality does not get further deprioritized... It might make sense to make a public indexes if corporations aren't interested in maintaining them...
- Modified3019
I’ve been using Kagi search for a while, and had no real complaints, as the search does what I’ve always expected it to do. For a while I completely ignored Kagi assistant because why the fuck would I want a slower and verbose version of a search that already worked fine?
In the past few months though, I’ve been heavily using the assistant set to use deepseek to assist with putting together a Minecraft 26.2 mod pack. It’s saved me so much time and frustration it’s unreal. Turns out there are certain things that are complex enough that regular search really isn’t all that great for.
For example, I can now do things like ask if there’s a mod that allows torch placement from the hotbar while holding something else, via middle click, compatible with Minecraft Java 26.2 neoforge compatible, as the one I previously used is outdated. And instead of spending 2-3 hours trying a bunch of keywords and combing through poorly named and documented mods, I can quickly get fairly reasonable confirmation that this doesn’t exist, along with some alternatives.
Another game changer is handing it a GitHub source and asking it what needs to get changed to update a mod to newer versions, and things like what’s involved with fixing a model from an outdated resource pack for a recent version and having it work with Fresh Animations. This would proudly have required many days of painful and frustrating searching.
I can also ask it for basic scripts, rather than spending time hoping to find something […]
- vectordust
have been a paying user for years, very happy with the service.