{"id":95474,"date":"2026-03-23T11:52:35","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T08:52:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/?p=95474"},"modified":"2026-03-23T11:55:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T08:55:26","slug":"a16z-predicts-the-end-of-internet-advertising-due-to-ai-agents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/a16z-predicts-the-end-of-internet-advertising-due-to-ai-agents\/","title":{"rendered":"a16z Predicts the End of Internet Advertising Due to AI Agents"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The evolution of autonomous commerce involving AI agents could transform the internet economy, potentially leading to the disappearance of advertising, according to a16z Crypto.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Curated agent marketplaces look a lot like AOL. Open payment protocols look a lot like HTTP. The last time this happened, HTTP won.<\/p>\n<p>What will prevail in the age of agentic commerce? <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/hFura0Sbxx\">pic.twitter.com\/hFura0Sbxx<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 a16z crypto (@a16zcrypto) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/a16zcrypto\/status\/2035748431139160074?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 22, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Since the inception of the World Wide Web, purchasing goods and services typically involved visiting store websites.<\/p>\n<p>The internet business model was built on &#8220;attention diversion&#8221;: users would browse content, notice an appealing ad, and click the link.<\/p>\n<p>However, <span data-descr=\"large language models\" class=\"old_tooltip\">LLM<\/span> and digital assistants operate differently\u2014they execute specific algorithms and simply do not get distracted by marketing ploys.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>&#8220;The irony: advertising gave the world a free internet, from which a dataset of 10 trillion tokens emerged. These data trained language models, which are now undermining the advertising model itself,&#8221; noted Merit Systems co-founder Sam Ragsdale.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>In the digital realm, &#8220;closed clubs&#8221; like Facebook, TikTok, and LinkedIn remained. They invested billions in engineers to protect user data around the clock.<\/p>\n<p>However, AI agents with computer vision have learned to mimic human behavior online so convincingly that the line between bot and real user has virtually disappeared.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Open Protocols Instead of Closed Ecosystems<\/h2>\n<p>ChatGPT, Gemini, and other leading AI platforms have added instant payment functions for users in the US. Goods can be purchased directly within the chat interface, without leaving it.<\/p>\n<p>However, such services are new closed ecosystems where sellers undergo strict selection. According to Ragsdale, the future lies in agentic commerce based on open protocols like x402 from Coinbase and <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/stripe-unveils-payments-for-ai-agents-using-usdc-and-x402-protocol\">MPP from Tempo and Stripe<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>&#8220;An assistant capable of buying only from pre-approved sellers is like an employee with a corporate card limited to three suppliers. An agent with open protocols is like an entrepreneur with a bank account,&#8221; he compared.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The idea is not new\u2014the &#8220;402&#8221; status code (Payment Required) was proposed back in 1997, but there was no way to conduct micropayments with a fixed fee below a cent. Now this issue is resolved, thanks to <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/what-are-stablecoins\">stablecoins<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>&#8220;In 1997, the internet had no business model, and no one knew why a server should talk to a stranger. Open protocols and the clever hack of advertising solved this problem, and civilization went digital. In 2026, this hack is dying. Open protocols and status codes will replace it,&#8221; concluded Ragsdale.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Earlier in March, a16z venture partner Noah Levin <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/bloombergs-ai-agent-transaction-volumes-overestimated-by-fifteenfold\">stated<\/a> that the actual transaction volume of AI agents was 15 times lower than Bloomberg&#8217;s estimates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The evolution of autonomous commerce involving AI agents could transform the internet economy, potentially leading to the disappearance of advertising, according to a16z Crypto.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":95475,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"select":"1","news_style_id":"1","cryptorium_level":"","_short_excerpt_text":"AI agents could transform the internet economy, potentially ending advertising, says a16z Crypto.","creation_source":"","_metatest_mainpost_news_update":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1531,1751,438,1138],"class_list":["post-95474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-a16z-crypto","tag-ai-agents","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-opinions"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"views":"122","promo_type":"1","layout_type":"1","short_excerpt":"AI agents could transform the internet economy, potentially ending advertising, says a16z Crypto.","is_update":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95474"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95474\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95476,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95474\/revisions\/95476"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}