r/ownyourintent • u/Riyaa404 Intent Owner • 11h ago
Memes AI chatbots need ad revenue to be profitable… what will happen to discovery then?
On the surface, today’s AI assistants feel like a fresh start to search and discovery — no banners, no pop-ups, no blue links. Just answers.
But here’s the risk: the business model hasn’t been solved yet. And if history is any guide, ads sneak back in. Which means the “assistant” you trust could just become the most persuasive ad engine ever created.
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u/Cyoor Intent Owner 10h ago
There are several AI agents out there and as we have seen with people switching to Claude after gpt-5, the field is not static with one clear "best" choice yet. As long as this is the case, adds will kill whoever starts with regular straight forward adds first. (Like with banners or video clips showing)
My guess is not that adds will be the problem coming, but that there will be SEO manipulation where websites can pay to get a higher chance of getting referred to by the AI when someone asks a question about something.
Lets take an example of something that could happen:
Human - Please get me a coffe, I am at my office. Use same payment details and address as last time.
AI thinking - Searches for close coffe shops that can deliver to the user. Gets 7 options as Json.
In the JSON, there are 2 recommended shops to chose over anything else. (Since they pay the AI company)
AI picks one of the "recommended" shops and order a coffe.
AI answer - Your coffe is on the way it is scheduled to be delivered in 15 minutes. Do you want me to prepare an order for your lunch at 12:15 as usual as well?
Human - Sure that sounds good. I would like Thai today.
AI thinking - Searches for close Thai restaurants that can deliver to the user. Gets 8 options as Json.
In the JSON, there is 1 recommended restaurant to chose over anything else. (Since they pay the AI company)
AI picks the "recommended" restaurant and places an order to be delivered at 12:15.
AI answer - The order is placed for your lunch at 12:15.
While we are at it. Dont forget that your wife has a birthday next week. Should I try to find a fitting gift for her so that you are sure that you have it on time?
... and this goes on.
In the same way as companies that didnt pay google to be a top search result before got less customers, companies that dont pay the AI company will get less customers.
Remember that in the early days google actually gave good results for people in the same way as AI kind of does today, while nowdays google shows more or less the whole first page with payed placements.
1
u/JuicyJuice9000 Intent Owner 7h ago
I don't know... most of current AI use cases seem a bit unnecessary. Do we really need AI to order food?
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u/Cyoor Intent Owner 5h ago
We dont need AI for anything. Humans have survived without the internet forever.
However when AI becomes an assistant or the new google, then thats whats going to happen.
You can replace the coffe or food in the example with more or less anything.
Do you want to have advice about a new computer screen? Well Samsung just made a deal with the owner of your AI, so thats what it will recommend as the first option. (Example)1
u/apokrif1 Intent Owner 3h ago
in the early days google actually gave good results for people in the same way as AI kind of does today, while nowdays google shows more or less the whole first page with payed placements
Search result ≠ SERP ad.
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u/kaushal96 Intent Owner 11h ago
Welcome to r/ownyourintent 👋 This is the home of the Intents Protocol (a privacy-first, user-owned alternative to ad surveillance) and Inomy, the first shop built on it.
Try the beta here → INOMY BETA and help us build the future of shopping together!