Cloudflare CEO warns AI and zero-click internet are killing the web's business model

Reminder: the Internet has its roots from ARPANET which is designed to survive an atomic blast and openly available to learn. A dead web business model won't kill the technology that allows humans to instantly communicate. If anything a new internet may come of this once the money dries up.

Long live the Fediverse?

Get a real job.

Using the more-than-zero-click internet of today is like sticking your dick into the mysterious mush at the bottom of a dumpster; maybe it'll feel good, but it will also certainly feel absolutely disgusting no matter what.

This is unironically how half of the planet uses the internet. Do you notice anything that might turn them off from clicking on another 5 links to find an answer to their question? Just one reason for them to all flock to ChatGPT for all of their browsing needs? I don't, because I'm part of the other half that uses an adblocker, that has an objectively better experience of the internet. But now that Google is turning the screws on the browser extensions, that half might also stop clicking altogether.

Then there are the cookie banners, the email-begging popups, the login walls, the top 3 or 5 or more search results being barely-relevant sponsored garbage, the dark patterns and so on and so forth. It just becomes too much to bear. Maybe not everyone is equipped with the understanding of the existence of enshittification, but everyone sure is sick and tired of it.

And finally, there's the dreaded paywall:

Everyone complains day and night about people not fact-checking information across multiple sources, but how on earth are we expected to do that with every single story when all of the journalism websites want you to whip out your credit card (they don't even take my bank's payment processor) to sign up for yet another subscription that STILL HAS ADS. Of course I'm going straight to the Wayback Machine (which is under attack from hackers and lawsuits) or paywall removers (which seem to work less and less). However, once again, most people don't bypass them or don't know how to, so they either pay up or or try to find another way.

Today, our way of life requires us to ask countless questions which we simply don't know the answers to. The fastest way to find them is through websites via search engines, but since shareholders value growth over profit, they all must be chock full of the aforementioned crap and bloat. The zero-click internet offers all of the benefits without any of the drawbacks. The nonzero-click internet simply doesn't compete in time or convenience, even if it does in accuracy. If they want to have their users back, they'll need to make their services not painful to use.

Google is in an interesting predicament. Their ad service brings in so much revenue, but it's based on search sending traffic to places where those ads are consumed.

Boost search through Overviews and you're limiting the effectiveness and reach of your ad service. And to top it off, your search needs content to ingest and remain relevant. But if the ad revenue drops off to websites, they go out of business, so search has less stuff to ingest.

It's like a reverse flywheel, where each part is working to harm the other part. People have been pointing this out for the last couple of years, but Google search just keeps adding more to Overviews and choking off the flow.

And before you say "good, I hate ads," most of the internet today and its services are paid by ad revenue changing hands. That includes ISPs that host the Fediverse, networking and storage gear makers, pretty much everything to do with open source, and so many jobs that exist to keep the whole thing humming so we can enjoy cat memes.

If Google (or someone like Cloudflare) doesn't figure out a way to keep the money flowing, we may be watching a sea shift in how the internet has worked in the last 30 years.

duckduckgo added the "instant answers" sidebar for the first time back in 2014 and google did the same not too long after, so its definitely not a new issue