How the intelligence substrate is changing the web, and a deep dive into a personal experiment I’ve been building.
For better or worse, bots and AI agents are quickly becoming the primary users of the web. Many see this as an existential threat to the web and all it contains, and I’m generally in agreement. But if you read part 1, “Birth of the Intelligence Substrate,” I share how AI is creating an abstraction layer between humans and machines. This essay is about how that idea is changing the web, and a deep dive into a personal experiment I’ve been building.
As a quick recap: generative AI is creating a new abstraction layer on top of technology that’s unlike the technical layers that came before. This one looks more like a biological layer — less deterministic, endowed with some autonomy and intelligence, holding context and complexity on our behalf. The trick is holding on to our agency. There is a path, albeit fraught, where AI helps and protects us from the forces trying to extract value — and ushers in a new era of digital sovereignty.
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