The Web's Second User
The open web is a miracle. And it's about to face its biggest challenge yet: the primary user is shifting from humans to AIs.
Human Web Use
Narrow and focused: clicks, scrolls, short searches. A few pages at a time, all served in seconds. Business models built on attention, ads, and engagement.
AI Web Use
Vastly different: instant responses or hours of processing, single facts or entire databases. AIs will use the web far more than humans ever have.
The Economics Are Broken
For decades, information has powered everything — yet creators, publishers, and thinkers have rarely been compensated for the true value their work generates in the AI era.
Large models now read the internet for free, distilling collective knowledge into clean answers — while the people who authored those insights fade into the background.
Business models built on human attention can't serve AIs. By default, the web trends toward zero-sum: paywalls, gated APIs, and private data silos everywhere, undermining the very miracle that sparked the AI revolution.
We think that's broken.
Building the Programmatic Web
A new layer specifically for AIs: declarative, composable, and built around reasoning and computation.
Unified data, compute, reasoning
Engineered to operate as one so that outputs are actions and insights, not just documents.
Declarative interfaces
Designed so AIs state what they need, not how to get it. The infrastructure determines how. Pull turns to push.
Transparent attribution
Built so every source and insight is tracked and credited. Contributions become measurable and transparent.
Open, value-based markets
Incentivized so participants earn based on value they add. Staying open wins because it's economically superior.
The Settlement Layer for the Agentic Web
Cite was founded on a simple principle: knowledge should remain open, but value should flow fairly.
We're building the settlement layer for the agentic web — where every citation, every paragraph, every dataset carries transparent attribution and fair compensation.
When an AI uses your work, you get paid — instantly, automatically, and in proportion to its worth.
Transparency
Users deserve to know where knowledge comes from. Every citation carries full attribution and clear pricing.
Trust
Creators must be rewarded when their words teach the world. Fair compensation builds a sustainable ecosystem.
Technology
We can finally build systems that make this balance real. The settlement layer for the agentic web.
The Choice Is Binary
We build the open web for its second user, or it fractures beyond repair.
We imagine a future where the web becomes self-sustaining again — a living ecosystem of incentives, not extraction.
Cite isn't just about payments. It's about restoring dignity to digital knowledge.
At Cite, we are building for abundance.
See citation economics in action