If disintermediation removing distributors in the value chain) was the hallmark impact of the internet on media and content, artificial intelligence arguably reinserts a new mediation layer in the value chain.
If the internet tended to remove gatekeepers, AI is going to bring that function back.
The internet let creators, publishers, and businesses reach users directly.
Authors could self-publish.
Musicians could bypass record labels.
Retailers could sell directly online.
Newspapers could distribute without print trucks.
The dominant idea was that gatekeepers lost power and relevance.
AI seems to be inserting a new form of mediation between users and content, especially as agents proliferate:
Users ask an AI instead of visiting websites
Buyers rely on AI agents instead of browsing stores
Students consult AI instead of textbooks or tutors
Professionals ask AI instead of reading reports.
If the internet reduced friction between producer and consumer, allowing creators to reach consumers directly, AI inserts a new layer the AI agent).
The practical consequences:
Traffic shifts from websites to AI interfaces.
Brands lose direct contact with customers.
Original creators may receive less attribution.
AI becomes the gatekeeper.
Still, both the internet and AI function in some similar ways:
Reduce transaction costs
Increase access
Disrupt existing business models
Favor large platforms.
What is different is the way AI affects the monetization of content. Instead of search engine optimization, AI abstracts the sources of content.
Where SEO was intended to deliver relevant links, AI “gives you the answer.”
During the internet era, media companies lost control over distribution.
During the AI era, they may lose control over:
Discovery
Attribution
Monetization
Customer relationships
The risk is greater because AI can both create and summarize content, reducing the need to visit the original source.
But something greater than “distribution” or “discovery” is at work. Where the internet largely focused on “discovery” of content, AI agents will essentially “create” content.
As the internet forced content providers to change, so AI will force changes as well. Organizations must optimize not only for human customers, but also for AI systems.
The shifts are from discovery to meaning; traffic volume to citation; site visits to inclusion in summary; active search to passive consumption.
The internet was about removing traditional gatekeepers. AI seems destined to insert a new layer into the value chain.
Participants will have to adapt.
The primary challenge for publishers and content providers is “zero click.” When a user gets their answer directly on the search results page, they have no reason to visit the publisher’s site, leading to significant declines in organic traffic and ad impressions.
Advertisers now must design for agentic discovery as they once designed for search engines.
Platforms are performing a delicate balancing act: they need to keep users satisfied with quick, AI-driven answers while ensuring that content creators (the "web") don't disappear, as the AI needs that content to function.
One often hears lamentations about the unfairness of the new system, typically in the form of who gets the value from creating and distributing content. But nothing in the media and content businesses is guaranteed. Nobody has a “right” to audiences.
New gatekeepers are coming, whether we like it or not.
