Search for answers like “can dogs eat mango” or “do butterflies pee” (yes, I’ve searched for both recently), you can easily see how Google’s negative influence on the web. Job of an indexer is to make sense of content and surface it appropriately. However, search is the window to the web, shifting some power from authors to the indexers of content. The web is, at least partially, shaped in the image of Google.
Despite search being the dominant player on the web, authors still get to style and present content in ways that reflect their branding and style. Websites are a reflection of an author’s intent. They get to take the consumer on a journey. Search is part of how content is organised. However, all of this lies in the hands of the author.
I asked ChatGPT the same questions above to get answers. Answers were instant. No bullshit ads or content hidden amongst a sea of SEO text. I was only regretful that I hadn’t done that as my first step. I’m still building my muscle memory to open ChatGPT instead of Safari.
There is something interesting about searches done through LLMs. LLMs drop all hints of what the original authors of this content intended to convey or how they wanted to present the information. Content is reduced all the way to what I personally wanted to know.
AI is becoming the translation layer between what authors created and what the consumer was looking for. This is causing a fundamental shift to how we think about the web. The presentation responsibility shifts from the author to consumer, reducing the burden on something like a website.
There are lots of down sides to this, of course. Content creators don’t get enough credit (hence, lawsuits) and we don’t read how content was intended to be consumed. We miss out on the motivations and stories behind what fuelled great writing or artwork. Yet, the significant amount of trash on the web today will move more people into this mode of using something like ChatGPT to discover content.
This isn’t a new phenomenon either. Google Maps is a good example of providing a different window to content around the web. That too, has a lot of complaints from content owners. However, Google Maps is something Google designs to be a specific lens into a type of content. It isn’t as personal to me specifically.
Web browsers have been the window to the web. If you had the opportunity to watch Halt and Catch Fire (season 2 and 3), Joe MacMillan has this epiphany. They don’t have to create their own network to get users. They just need to create a window to what is out there in other networks and servers with HTTP requests. It is so powerful. A web browser’s job is to present content an author has prepared using HTML and CSS. JavaScript makes things more fun and interactive.
Entering the AI age, the concept of a “web browser” takes a different shape. My browser should be different to yours because I, as a consumer, get to control how content is presented to me. Browsing will be deeply personal. I have the power to decide what I want to see. My bot / browser / companion / OS / computer / whatever I use… will understand me and shape content to help me easily consume it. It will help me make sense of the world.