Taming the Crocodile Project Releases Phase I Report
Earlier this year, Kudos brought together a group of publishers, platform providers, and other stakeholders to launch the “Taming the Crocodile” project. Their goal was to address the challenge posed by the rapid growth of “zero-click,” or AI-powered search, which has implications not only for how we assess the value and impact of published content, but also for trust in research and research integrity. Phase I of the project is now complete, and the group has released its first report.
One must contact Kudos directly to obtain the full report, but a recent blog post did release several key findings from Phase I. Notably, the group found in the course of its research that over one-third of information searches are now AI-driven; even when a user doesn’t choose an AI search tool, AI may already be built into the search engine used. Moreover, 40% of researchers in the study were unaware that results generated by AI search tools (e.g., the top-of-page results that appear in Google and other searches) do not undergo human review. Such findings, of course, have implications for research integrity, considering that the provenance of AI search results is often unknown. Another key finding (though perhaps a less surprising one) is that many librarians are reporting a decline in usage of publisher content, confirming concerns about the impact of zero-click search on traditional ways of assessing content value and highlighting the business case for finding solutions for these challenges.
The final key finding from Kudos’s announcement highlights a particular step that could help address declining usage rates:
The single most frequent recommendation from AI optimization agencies is to develop an AI discovery layer of structured, "answer-ready" plain-language summary content ("bottom line up front"–what is this about and why is it important). What was a “nice to have” is now essential if you want to reclaim / rebuild traffic, and retain brand visibility and citations.
The Kudos announcement shares other recommendations from Phase I, information on how to purchase the full report, and details on Phase II of the project. including how to join as a sponsor.