Generative Ai And The Reconfiguration Of Information Ecosystems: From Hyperlink-Based Referral To Generative Intermediation

Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) is fundamentally reshaping digital information ecosystems.This paper conceptualises a shift from referential intermediation, where search engines direct users to original sources through hyperlink-based referral, and generative intermediation, in which GenAI services draw on training data derived from existing sources to generate responses that address user queries directly, often without linking back to those sources.This shift reconfigures relationshi