Digiday readers need no reminder that the internet’s infrastructure, not to mention its funding, is in flux, causing equal amounts of trepidation and excitement among those earning a living in the digital economy.
Amid this dynamic, IAB Tech Lab, the body responsible for setting tech standards in the ad industry, hosted its annual summit this week, where Tim Berners-Lee shared his views on how the $1 trillion industry has evolved since he invented the web last century.
Berners-Lee repeatedly underlined his conviction that user control and privacy shouldn’t be sacrificed for business outcomes. Below is a concise summary of what he discussed on stage with IAB Tech Lab CEO, Anthony Katsur, during the May 28 conference.
Mistakes of the current internet?
When quizzed on the potential of the agentic web, Berners-Lee was asked about his concerns about the current internet.
He subsequently outlined his view that social platforms shouldn’t train algorithms to the extent that usage can tilt into addiction. Furthermore, noted concerns about TikTok, etc., promoting outrage culture, instead, they should excite users “by being collaborative,” not “by being angry.”
Monetizing in a zero-click future
Berners-Lee acknowledged concerns about a future in which users interact solely with LLMs, thereby abandoning website visits, particularly for “factual websites,” such as news, although he believes more creative-focused, interest-based websites, such as music or poetry, are more resilient to such trends.
From here, Berners-Lee discussed the potential to continue “the attention economy” in the era of the agentic internet through micropayments, while also noting the possibility of standards for intent signaling.
“There are paywalls, which drive people crazy,” he said, noting the potential for content-licensing deals, such as the recently proposed pay-per-crawl model championed by IAB Tech Lab.
Individual empowerment over business outcomes
“It’s really important the AI works for you,” said Berners-Lee. “You can create a layer [of an LLM] which makes sure the agent understands all of the individual person’s consumer data,” he added. “Build a world in which the users have control of their own data, then you build the AI that allows the language model to have access to that.”
‘A Bill of Rights’ for the agentic web
In this context, the keynote speaker was further quizzed on the potential for effective governance of the internet in this agentic era.
From here, Berners-Lee voiced his earlier advocacy of a means of holding authorities to account for their use of the web, with IAB Tech Lab’s Katsur suggesting that such a notion — which he defined as a “Bill of Rights for the Agentic Web” — should be updated, given the potential for platforms to manipulate what users are presented with.
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