Why Personal Websites Matter Even More in the AI Era
Standard answers are becoming cheaper, while personal experience may become more valuable.
The impact of AI is too huge. Today I saw Tencent’s ami product again, and for a moment I was speechless. I could not say a single word for quite a while.
After calming down for half an hour, I thought of the Industrial Revolution. I thought of the Information Revolution. What they changed was always the form of business, but the deepest logic underneath business never truly moved.
History keeps proving one thing again and again: scarce things always rise in value. It is just that the definition of “scarce” keeps changing.
- In the agricultural age, what was scarce was force. Whoever had the bigger fist took the land. Landlords and warriors stood at the top of the food chain.
- In the industrial age, what was scarce was capital and machines. Whoever owned the factory had the say. Capitalists stepped onto the stage.
- In the information age, what was scarce was attention and traffic. Whoever could reach users made money. Top influencers and platforms became kings.
- And in the AI era, what is scarce is taste and judgment — that kind of “golden finger” based on intuition, experience, and aesthetics. It is extremely rare, and worth a fortune.
The smaller the information gap becomes, and the larger the shared information base becomes, the clearer one fact is: standard answers are depreciating, while the value of personal experience will not disappear. It will become more expensive.
Information bases solve known problems. Personal experience solves the unknown and trial and error. A personal website should no longer be just a provider of information. It should become a place where viewpoints collide.