Sep 11, 2026
What happens when Google and AI companies can answer a travel question using the experiences, photos and expertise of creators – without sending the reader to the creator who did the work?
Travel Matters hosts Palle Bo and Rick Calvert sit down with travel creator and former attorney Nate Hake, founder of Travel Lemming, to talk about what he sees as an existential challenge for online creators.
Nate argues that the problem isn’t AI itself – it’s how companies are using creators’ work while taking away the traffic that has traditionally allowed publishers to make money. But he also believes creators have more power than they might think.
They discuss blocking AI crawlers, emerging licensing models that could eventually compensate creators, why personal experience is becoming more valuable rather than less, and why relying on search traffic alone may no longer be a sustainable business model.
The episode also includes an update recorded a year after the original conversation, looking at how AI licensing has developed since Nate made some of these predictions.
In this episode
- Why AI-generated answers can threaten the traditional creator business model
- How creators can block selected AI bots without disappearing from Google Search
- Why AI companies may eventually have to pay publishers for access to their content
- Why personal experience, storytelling, photos and video are becoming increasingly important
- Why creators should think beyond traffic and build products, services and direct relationships with their audience
Relevant links
- Nate Hake:
https://natehake.com - Travel Lemming:
https://travellemming.com - Nate’s step-by-step guide to blocking
AI bots:
https://travellemming.com/perspectives/block-ai-bots/ - Nate dives deeper into AI and content
creators:
https://youtu.be/0ftNbm6zmK0?si=YL25bgMoaSgvTPCx - Watch the section specifically about
blocking AI bots:
https://youtu.be/0ftNbm6zmK0?si=zNqEe_m2V9dJLBZ8&t=3010 - Nate on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/natehake/ - Nate on X:
https://x.com/natejhake - Nate on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/nathan.hake/ - TBEX:
https://tbexcon.com
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