The Open Web: Dead, Alive, or Just Complicated?

"Google once denied that AI search would drain publishers, but now admits (in court) the open web is in " rapid decline" (just to clarify shortly after, that the decline only affects the open-web display advertising, not the open web as a whole... ok, whatever). Sam Altman says he's suddenly worried that the " Dead Internet Theory " might actually be true. "Dead or alive," the debate itself is very much alive and kicking. And so is the finger-pointing: AI! Walled Gardens! Both! Neither!"

"Between Google's AI Overviews, ChatGPT's instant answers, and a proliferation of summarising tools, traditional site visits are collapsing. Traffic is down, monetisation models are cracking, and editorial teams wonder whether the words they poured months into will ever be read by an actual human, let alone clicked on. The open web bleeds, but the pain doesn't stop there. Programmatic platforms, built on that supply, are getting squeezed too."

"Meanwhile, the walled gardens grow stronger, rolling in like a monopoly tsunami that's increasingly impossible to stop. Google, Meta, Amazon, all sucking in more of the internet. Especially in areas less reliant on open-web traffic: CTV, retail media, in-store commerce, digital audio. Those are thriving. And while lawsuits pile up against the platforms, the response inside their walls is more meme than mea culpa. Google employees literally celebrated courtroom wins with Lord of the Rings and Wolf of Wall Street gifs."

Rumours about the death of the open web contrast with claims that AI, walled gardens, and platform consolidation are eroding traditional internet economics. Multiple companies are blamed for reducing open-web value, while some defendants argue decline affects specific ad formats only. AI search overviews and summarisation tools are collapsing site visits, lowering traffic and breaking monetisation models, leaving editorial teams uncertain that their longform work will be consumed. Programmatic platforms reliant on open-web supply face compression. Walled gardens such as Google, Meta and Amazon consolidate attention and ad spend across CTV, retail media, in-store commerce and digital audio. Lawsuits proliferate even as platforms continue deal-making and internal culture minimizes public contrition.

Read at Exchangewire