What happens once the stipend goes away? What happens when the tool stops being “free”? I know these publishers are desperate for lifelines at the moment but I hope they are thinking ahead to the time that Google no longer needs them or their content.
More like what if long term google cuts out the publishers. I mean when someone googles X, show or generate the article now. They only need the publishers now to get a human feedback loop.
Internet tools to find, physical books to consume. At least the consumption part is ad-free.