I’m undertaking a 1000-day reinvention project, focused on launching a writing and advisory business around personal finance for GenXers. I’m blogging here daily to track my progress. In Wednesday Website, I explore and plan for some improvement to my website.
I asked ChatGPT how websites will change in the AI era, and here’s what it told me:
- Websites will become dynamic interfaces. They will offer interactive, personalized tools with AI agents trained on the site’s content, purpose and brand.
- Search engine optimization (SEO) will erode. Content sites that depend on Google traffic may be disintermediated. Publishers and businesses will need to adapt by training their own AI agents, embedding LLMs into their sites, and building content that’s harder to abstract or summarize.
- Trust and authority will become central. Human-authored, high-integrity websites will stand out, if they clearly signal their authority. There will be a greater emphasis on first-person perspective.
- Websites might fragment into APIs or AI endpoints with human-facing summaries. AI will consume data via these endpoints or from private knowledge bases.
- Monetization models will change. Ad-supported and affiliate sites will suffer as AI answers questions directly. Subscription models, paid communities, and proprietary tools will become more valuable. Websites may focus more on productized services or AI-enhanced tools.
- Underlying web protocols might evolve: structured data, metadata tagging, ownership signals, and licensing mechanisms could become standard.
Yesterday I shared an article in my occasional AI newsletter about how I have been using Tarot to get advice about sticky situations in my life. One of my friends suggested I should offer workshops. I received a ping to my LinkedIn account about an AI product position, apparently related to this newsletter (the referral came via one of my subscribers). My sisters really enjoyed the advice they got this way. This idea seems to have some resonance.
Maybe I should put a Tarot chatbot on my website? Build a life coach website that is based on the Tarot? Or what about a Gen X advisor that is trained on my writings and infused with my ideals? This would be aimed at migrating to a more dynamic, personalized, AI-inspired website.
I probably won’t do that. But it’s interesting to think of what a more dynamic personal website might look like.