In the face of mounting criticism, Google recently stated that the AI summaries included in search results do not harm websites and claimed they actually do quite the opposite, albeit minus any facts or figures to back that up.
Google uses AI to scrape the web and collate information, which it then delivers as a summary included with pertinent search results. This summary is almost always at the very top of the list, which means the majority of users can find the information they are looking for without ever needing to click on a link to a website. For Google to claim that this is not detrimental to websites is clearly false.
Let’s get one thing straight: the AI in question here does not produce original content; it merely utilizes existing content from the web to compile its summaries. How Google can get away with this without any sort of attribution for the content’s originator is beyond me. I am by no means an expert in copyright law, but surely what Google is doing amounts to plagiarism. If not illegal, it is at the very least unethical.
Google’s Undue Influence On The Web
I remember the early days when the web was mostly populated with smaller independent websites, and surfing the web was an adventure. Since those formative years, Google’s existence has influenced the structure of the web to the extent that it has now changed dramatically. Thanks to a massive increase in the reliance on advertising, payment for priority in search result listings, and other Google incentives, most of the smaller independent sites have now gone by the wayside, with the web dominated by conglomerates.
Many of the sites you visit and think are independent are actually under the umbrella of some huge conglomerate or another, which stifles competition, diversity of opinions, and amounts to monopolization.
Indeed, Google’s business model is making it harder and harder for smaller independent websites to survive, and these AI summaries included in search results, which eliminate the need for people to actually visit websites, are just another step in that same direction.
BOTTOM LINE:
I openly admit I miss all those little independent websites that were once the heart and soul of the World Wide Web and rue the day when the almighty dollar started to dictate terms.
The old saying, “money makes money“, has never been truer than when applied to today’s World Wide Web.
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