Recently, I’ve been thinking about something.
I run a website. I publish content, a content that takes time, thinking, and a lot of effort. But these days due to AI its gone to dustbin.
Or more accurately… into AI.
Every day, tools like ChatGPT, Google Gemini Claude and others are pulling information from websites. They scrape, learn, summarize, and answer, all powered by content that people like me (and thousands of others) have published online.
According to a study by Ahrefs, AI bots account for approximately 0.17% of total website visits, with 63% of websites receiving some level of AI traffic. Additionally as per COAR survey over 90% of open-access repositories are being hit by AI bots weekly which often burdens websites servers, slowing down performance.
Just in all of this content is powered and written by Humans who keeps the web alive.
And here’s the frustrating part:
We’re not getting anything back.
No credit. No traffic. No earnings.
Just a one-way street where AI benefits, and publishers are left out of the loop.
AI Has Shifted Everything and We Need to Catch Up
There was a time when AI was a movie thing, but today its in-front of our eyes and reality.
In fact, we’re already in the early days of a new reality. If we don’t adapt to this shift, if we don’t prepare for what’s coming, many of us will be left behind.
And one of the first places this change is being felt is the open web.
The internet today isn’t what it was yesterday.
Thanks to AI, getting answers has become quicker, easier, and right at your fingertips. You don’t need to visit five or six websites anymore to understand something. You just type a question, and boom, AI gives you the answer.
And I’m not against that.
I actually think AI is a powerful fix, a tool that helps people save time, learn more, and do better work.
But we can’t forget where that knowledge is coming from.
Humans Are the Ones Feeding the Web and AI
The information, insights, analysis, stories, and discussions that AI gives you all come from us.
From people who publish.
From websites that share.
From creators who contribute.
And now that we’re reaching the point where AI gives the answers but we don’t get anything in return, we have to ask:
Why would anyone keep doing this for free?
If there’s no reason to publish,
If there’s no reward for contributing,
If there’s no input,
Then there won’t be any output.
That’s the reality.
AI doesn’t magically produce answers. It remixes, processes, and repackages information that was already created by someone else.
If the flow of fresh information stops, then what will AI have left to work with?
AI Bots Are Draining the Web Literally
This isn’t just a theory either. It’s already happening.
According to a recent COAR survey, AI bots are flooding websites in massive numbers, aggressively crawling pages, putting strain on servers, and in some cases, causing performance issues and outages.
So let’s break this down:
- Website owners are paying for hosting
- They’re investing time, effort, research, and money into creating content
- AI bots show up, scrape the content, slow down their sites, and leave
- And in return? Nothing
It’s like being charged to feed a machine that doesn’t acknowledge you exist.
And as AI continues to scale, this model simply can’t continue.
Website owners can’t keep paying the bills while AI companies rake in the benefits.
This Can’t Last and It Shouldn’t
Right now, AI companies are training their models on freely available data from across the web.
But this window is closing.
Content creators are getting frustrated. Publishers are fighting back. And if things keep going this way, information will become scarce, locked up, or just stop being published altogether.
And when that happens, AI will start to lose its edge.
No fresh data means no fresh insights.
No insights means a weaker AI.
That’s not good for anyone, not for users, not for AI developers, and definitely not for the internet.
So what’s the fix?
💡A Simple Model to Let AI and Publishers Work Together
What I’m suggesting is straightforward.
If AI tools are going to benefit from publishers’ work, then publishers deserve a cut.
Here’s how it could work.
🔁Raise the Subscription, Share the Revenue
Right now, premium AI subscriptions like ChatGPT Plus cost around 20 dollars per month.
Let’s say that price increases to 50 dollars per month
Not just for profit, but to support the ecosystem.
That extra 30 dollars becomes a compensation pool for the websites whose content is accessed by AI.
📊Track Usage, Pay Based on Access
- Every time an AI tool accesses live data from a publisher’s site, it’s logged
- Each access counts as a “visit” tied to that publisher
- Over the course of a month, all accesses are tallied
- The 30-dollar pool is split proportionally across all publishers based on how often their content was used
- When a publisher’s earnings reach a minimum (say 100 dollars), they get paid out
Just like musicians get paid per stream, publishers would get paid per AI-powered visit.
Yes, It’ll Take Time and That’s Okay
Like any system, this model won’t be perfect from day one.
In the early stages, it may take time before things are in full swing.
Not every user will instantly choose the higher subscription tier.
Not every publisher will register immediately.
The earnings might be small in the beginning.
But gradually, as more users see the value and more content creators join, the ecosystem will grow.
The revenue pool will expand.
And publishers will start getting their fair part.
The key is transparency. AI companies must commit to open reporting and ensure this isn’t just another way to boost their bottom line.
It has to genuinely support the people powering the internet.
Because if done right, this won’t just be sustainable, it’ll be fair.
This Keeps the Internet Open and Everyone Wins
- Publishers get rewarded fairly for creating valuable, trustworthy content
- AI companies get continued access to live, up-to-date information that makes their tools smarter
- Users get better answers, knowing the people behind the knowledge are being supported
This isn’t charity. It’s fairness.
And it’s long overdue.
Let’s Do This Before It’s Too Late
If AI keeps growing while the web gets locked behind walls, we’ll end up with a digital divide.
Powerful AI tools, but no fresh information to draw from.
That future doesn’t help anyone.
I’m not saying my model is perfect. But it’s a start.
A middle ground.
A fair way for AI and publishers to grow together instead of pulling each other apart.
I have just shared my opinion. I understand there are many more intelligent than me who can tackle this issue – if they really want to.
I hope this can be fixed, and let’s start a discussion on this. If this issue gets picked up by editors of renowned news media companies, I believe it will gain exposure, and someone from AI companies will pay attention and come up with a change for a Fair Web – unlike not just one-way, AI-driven.
