With the popularity of artificial intelligence search, traditional web media are facing their greatest traffic crisis in history. More and more users have developed the habit of getting answers from AI, leading to a significant decrease in traffic to media websites themselves.

The Traffic Crisis Forces the Termination of Collaborations

Reddit, a well-known community platform, previously had a contract with Google worth $60 million per year, allowing its content to be used for training AI models. However, as AI search gradually replaces the need for users to search forums, Reddit is reevaluating whether to continue this collaboration.

A similar situation is also frequently occurring at traditional news organizations. Prominent media outlets such as Reuters and USA Today are considering completely blocking Google's crawlers from accessing their website content.

The Media Industry Begins a Content Defense War

To counter the erosion of traffic caused by AI, the media platform Politico is considering automated prevention measures such as registration walls. Meanwhile, The Economist is actively discussing a withdrawal from the AI search field and taking measures to protect its intellectual property rights.

Facing this difficulty, some media outlets are trying alternative survival strategies. Time magazine has tried hiding ads that are not visible to regular readers, aiming to allow advertisers to reach potential customers when AI crawlers access the content.