"That would be ad fraud": the awkward question of Google AI agents clicking ads
firstadopter · x · 2026-10-29
During a discussion about Google's AI agents' business model, someone asked what happens if Google's AI agents click on ads themselves. Investor firstadopter's terse reply: "That would be ad fraud." The exchange highlights a structural tension for the agentic web era — when browsing and clicks are performed by AI rather than humans, the core assumption behind ad pricing (genuine human attention) breaks down, and the line between agent-driven browsing and click fraud becomes uncomfortably thin.
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