Connecting the dots of recent research suggests a new future for traditional websites: The large language models (LLMs) of generative AI that scraped their training data from websites are now using that data to eliminate the need to go to many of those same websites. Respected digital commentator Casey Newton concluded, "the web is entering a state of managed decline." The Washington Post headline was more dire: "Web publishers brace for carnage as Google adds AI answers."
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- Acknowledgements and disclosures
- Google and Meta are general, unrestricted donors to the Brookings Institution. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions posted in this piece are solely those of the authors and are not influenced by any donation.
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