For those that have followed my writings on the changing business models being driven by AI, you know I have not written in a while. This is because I have been buried in some AI security research that will be coming out in a paper soon to be published.
Given that, I feel I have to address the announcement by Meta to begin a subscription based social media offering.
Business Model Wars 101
In my papers earlier in the year, I listed several possible internet business changes that may be coming because of how AI works and the companies driving the AI era. This is a move away from the advertising business model that primarily drives the internet today. The possible business model changes included:
- More power to content creators
- A move towards more subscription based services
- Direct buy from large language models (LLM) such as ChatGPT and Claude fueled by delivery companies such as Amazon
- Advertising within the LLMs
One of the first shots in the business model wars was Anthropic’s Super Bowl ad stating they would not be advertising based and making fun of Meta’s plan to move towards ads. On the direct buy option, OpenAI began the direct buy path with their agreement with Stripe in late 2025 and now every major company is chasing some form of agentic commerce platform. The results of the Perplexity vs Amazon lawsuit will have major implications in how this business model progresses — the current trial is scheduled for September.
Meta’s Business Model Shift
The announcement that Meta is moving more towards a subscription model appears to be a further indication that the advertising based business model is fading. The move towards subscriptions can provide Meta with predictable revenue and monetize their massive user base.
There is another factor in play that Meta realizes: the user community for ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and CoPilot are being conditioned to not see advertisements. The longer this paradigm goes on, the harder it will be to inject advertisements into the user experience.
Meta Gaining Consent Through Subscriptions
Meta is a business, and their goal is to make money. The subscription model does not mean they are getting out of the advertising business — it will likely just change how advertising is applied. There is a fundamental change that comes with using LLMs that Meta may be addressing with the subscription model change: the consent issue.
In the current internet world, advertisers determine customer interest by which links they move to on the internet. Meta, Google and others make billions tracking where people go and providing advertising around this information. This goes away in the LLM world — ask ChatGPT a question and it gives you an answer, which may or may not have direct reference to an IP address.
One logical approach to this consent issue is through subscriptions. Users will have to actively agree to the subscription and even pay to use the product. This gives Meta a much clearer path to consent — and the ability to capture conversational data rather than just browsing behavior.
Where the Business Wars Go Next
Meta’s move to subscriptions is the latest move in the business wars. Regulatory pressures are arising from several states. Legal cases such as Perplexity/Amazon and AT&T/T-Mobile will also impact the business models. A growing factor has been the growth of LLMs outside of the frontier models — including Qwen and Moonshot AI — where companies have much greater control over user interactions and data capture. There are more changes coming in the business wars and it could go in a lot of directions.
Chip Block is the CEO of Kiwi Futures LLC. Follow his full series on AI business model transformation on Medium.