Internet Fragmentation in the Age of AI
Internet Fragmentation in the Age of AI: The Digital Walls Are Closing In Once upon a time, the internet was supposed to be this great, borderless utopia, one seamless network where ideas, commerce, and cat videos could flow freely. A great equaliser. A force for democracy. Now? It is starting to look more like a patchwork of walled gardens, each with its own set of rules, restrictions, and, increasingly, its own AI overlords. The internet has been fragmenting for years, through data localisation laws, geopolitical tensions, and corporate silos. But artificial intelligence is supercharging the process. AI is not just shaping the internet we use, it is dictating who gets to use it, how it is used, and what information flows where. Take China’s Great Firewall. It is not just about blocking certain websites anymore; it is about training AI models on government-approved data and censoring speech in real time. Europe, on the other hand, is leaning into regulation, forcing AI compan...