For more than twenty-five years, I’ve watched technology cycles move from the “magic” phase to the “utility” phase, and finally, to what Cory Doctorow famously termed “enshittification.” We saw it with the early web, the mobile revolution at Nokia, and the hyper-growth of eCommerce. Today, as we navigate the peak of the Agentic AI hype, we are hitting a familiar, uncomfortable wall. The “Answer Engine” is here, and it’s about to break the deal that has sustained the digital economy for two decades.
The latest Reuters Institute Trends and Predictions report highlights a stark reality for anyone in the business of creating value: news organisations and digital publishers are forecasting a 40% decline in search referrals over the next three years. Why? Because the platforms—the Googles and OpenAIs of the world—are no longer sending users to your front door. They are answering the door themselves, keeping the user inside their own garden, and leaving the original creators with nothing but a server bill.
The Pivot to Distinctiveness
If you are a CEO or a CPO, your reflex might be to lean into the machine. “How do we produce more content, faster, to feed the beast?” This is a trap. When everyone uses the same LLMs to generate the same generic “how-to” guides, the value of that information drops to zero. We are seeing a massive commodification of “service journalism” and surface-level analysis. The machines have won that round.
The real opportunity—and the only way to survive the Rot Economy—is to double down on precisely what the machine cannot do. We are seeing a decisive pivot. According to the International Federation of Journalists, publishers are increasing investment in original investigations (+91%) and contextual analysis (+82%). At the same time, they are slashing generic news by nearly 40%.
This is the Product Model in action: moving away from volume and focusing on outcomes and distinctive value. In my experience at companies like easyJet, we didn’t win by being just another airline website; we won by owning the direct relationship and providing a frictionless, high-value experience that agents couldn’t replicate. Today’s product leaders must ask: What is our “AI-resistant” value proposition?
The Creator Squeeze and the Human Connection
While AI is eating the “utility” end of the market, personality-led creators are eating the “trust” end. I’ve noticed a fascinating trend: users are increasingly following individuals over institutions. Whether it’s Vitus “V” Spehar on TikTok or niche experts on Substack, the audience is looking for a human face to navigate the “AI slop” flooding the internet.
For innovation professionals, this means rethinking the Service Design of your digital products. It’s no longer enough for an app to be functional; it must be authoritative. This is why 79% of publishers are prioritising video and 71% are leaning into audio. These formats are harder to “deep-fake” convincingly—at least for now—and they provide a level of empathy and nuance that a text-based chatbot simply lacks.
Escaping the Enshittification Trap
As Gartner predicts that 40% of enterprise apps will feature task-specific AI agents by the end of the year, we must be wary. There is a fine line between Agentic AI that empowers a user and a system designed to extract maximum value while offering the minimum viable service. We have seen this movie before—from the predatory practices of “free” social media to the current erosion of the open web.
To lead through this, we must focus on three core principles:
- Direct-to-User Relationships: If your business model relies on a platform’s “referral” or “goodwill,” you are already in trouble. Invest in your own platforms, your own data, and your own identity.
- Quality over Commodity: If a machine can write it, do not publish it. If a machine can solve it, do not charge for it. Focus your human talent on high-stakes, high-context problems.
- Ethical Governance: As we integrate these agents into our core digital products, we need a Digital Core that isn’t just technologically sound, but ethically grounded.
The “Invisible Web” created by AI answer engines is a threat to the lazy, but a massive opportunity for the bold. We are moving from a world of “Search” to a world of “Synthesis.” To thrive, your product must be the primary source that the synthesizers cannot ignore, or better yet, the destination that users seek out by name because they trust your human insight over an algorithmic summary. Focus on the human, protect the unique, and don’t let your product become just another ingredient in the LLM soup.
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