For decades, advertising has quietly powered the modern Internet. It funded the rise of search engines, social networks, maps, email and media, making it accessible to billions of people around the world. Most users never pay directly for these services, but they still benefit from one of the most open information ecosystems ever created.
Now, that ecosystem is being reshaped. Over the past year, the rapid adoption of generative AI and the corresponding decline in traditional search traffic for many publishers has fueled questions about how the next phase of the Internet will be funded.
Artificial intelligence is fast becoming a new department of knowledge. Instead of typing questions into the search bar and exploring links, users are turning to AI programs to deliver specific answers, recommendations and decisions. Platforms like OpenAI, Perplexity and Anthropic are redefining how information is accessed completely. Meanwhile, players like Google are integrating AI-generated overview answers directly into search results, signaling a structural change in the way users find information.
But as this change accelerates, an important question arises: how will monetization work within these AI systems, and who controls that layer?
AI platforms are not neutral pipelines. They aggregate, filter and prioritize information before it reaches the user. That means they don’t just edit the internet. They are getting more and more lemony. And that goes hand in hand with economic power. Despite the unprecedented growth in the number of large AI companies – since March 2026, OpenAI was founded. estimated at $852 billion—they have no profit. This is primarily due to the cost of computing, a demand that is only expected to grow in the coming years.
Historically, advertising has been the main means of keeping access to information broad and equitable. It ensured that a student in a small town and a Fortune 500 executive could access the same tools, the same search engines and the same information without paying out of pocket. It leveled the field. Now, AI has introduced a fork in the road.
In one way, AI becomes a premium service locked behind a subscription and designed for those who can’t access it. We’re already seeing early versions of this model in tiered offerings from major AI providers, where more advanced capabilities are reserved for paying users. Otherwise, it remains widely available, supported by an economic model that spreads costs across the system rather than placing them entirely on the user. Advertising is the most proven model we have for achieving the latter.
That’s why it’s no coincidence that the big AI platforms are already experimenting with ad-supported experiences. Startup Perplexity AI started testing sponsored answers under chat answers in late 2024 earlier to go back the effort in February in an effort to maintain user trust. That same month, OpenAI has started testing ads within ChatGPTexcitatory reversal and positive feedback from the Antropic competitor in the form of a Super Bowl ad. OpenAI reported that its ad driver 100 million in cash in two months and projects $100 billion in ad revenue by 2030. Analytics goes beyond monetization, shaping who has visibility, power and reach within the next layer of the Internet.
At the same time, advertising itself is being fundamentally reshaped by AI In the traditional web model, ads compete for human attention. Appearance was everything. Impressions, clicks and conversions define success. But in an AI-driven environment, the primary audience is no longer just human; and an AI system or agent, which interprets and integrates information on behalf of the user.
When a user asks AI to recommend the best laptop, plan a vacation or test software, the system collects and synthesizes the input before presenting a response. That means that marketing information is no longer just about being seen, but about being understood and selected by AI In fact, brands are competing for both screen space and inclusion in the thinking layer of the model. This is changing the nature of advertising.
Businesses will need to provide structured, accurate and useful data that AI systems can incorporate into their thinking. The most important marketing content will not be loud. It will be more relevant, reliable and machine readable. This reflects the previous evolution of search engine optimization but with higher stakes. Instead of ranking on the results page, brands strive to shape one unified response. In that world, advertising becomes less about persuasion and more about participating in the information layer itself. And this is where the question of control becomes critical.
If AI platforms are the gateway to information, and advertising is embedded within that layer, then those platforms also influence which marketing inputs appear, are trusted or ignored. The monetization model is a decision about how information ecosystems work—and defines how the next Internet era will work.
For advertising to play a positive role in this new environment, two principles must hold: transparency and application. Users should understand when marketing information is part of the response, and that information should enhance the outcome, not distort it. If those conditions are met, advertising can continue to do what it has always done to the best of its ability. It can finance access, increase participation and support open knowledge infrastructure.
Conversely, if AI becomes the dominant interface for information and there is no viable monetization model, then access will diminish. The most powerful tools will be reserved for those who can afford them, and the open web as we know it will be changed. This will mark a shift from the ad-supported model that enabled mass Internet use in the first place.
Marketing has no pitfalls. But it is also the reason why the Internet is a universal utility rather than a luxury product. As AI takes over as the front door to information, we don’t just need to rethink how answers are delivered. We need to decide how that system is funded and who it ends up serving. A future with broad, equal access to powerful AI tools is what one should work for. Ads are great, actually.
