Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, views artificial intelligence as a technology that could fulfill his long-held vision of a machine-readable web. In an interview on The Verge’s Decoder podcast, he expresses concern about how AI companies currently operate and the potential consequences for the open web. Berners-Lee explains that while generative AI is now capable of harnessing structured data from websites, a core idea of his “Semantic Web” concept, it does so through extraction rather than cooperation.
He worries that AI agents could disrupt the web’s economic foundation. If AI assistants browse the internet and provide summaries to users, people may no longer visit the original websites. According to Berners-Lee, this shift threatens the advertising revenue that supports countless publishers and creators, potentially causing the entire model to crumble.
As a solution, Berners-Lee advocates for personalized AI assistants that work exclusively for the user. At his company Inrupt, he is developing technology based on the open source Solid standard. This standard allows individuals to store their personal information in secure data wallets that they control. An AI with secure access to this personal data could act in the user’s best interest, similar to a doctor or lawyer, rather than serving the interests of a large corporation.
This work ties into his broader concern about the increasing centralization of the web. He notes the dominance of a few large technology companies and the rise of closed platforms. This trend moves away from his original vision of the web as a democratizing force that empowers individuals. Berners-Lee suggests that market forces alone cannot solve this issue. He believes government regulation may be necessary to enforce interoperability between platforms and restore a more balanced ecosystem.
Regarding the new competition among AI-powered browsers, Berners-Lee sees it as a source of innovation. However, he points out that most of these new browsers are built on Google’s Chromium engine. He believes that more competition at the foundational browser engine level would be beneficial for the future development of the web.
