The rapid growth of AI-generated content could make online discovery more difficult, not easier. Web entrepreneur Miles Noble believes independent creators may increasingly depend on human curation to help their products stand out in an increasingly crowded digital landscape.
The web has become highly effective at helping people locate information, products and resources. But the rapid development of artificial intelligence is changing the scale of what can be created and published. For web entrepreneur Miles Noble, that shift creates a new challenge: helping users identify the resources that deserve their attention.
The issue can already be seen in specialist digital ecosystems. SquareLocator, Miles’ curated discovery platform for the Squarespace community, now features over 1,300 products from close to 80 independent creators, showing how many digital resources are now competing within a relatively focused market.
Independent developers, designers and creators are particularly exposed to this challenge. New specialist products are being developed constantly, yet many of the people who could benefit from them may never encounter them.
Miles believes the current structure of the internet can make visibility an unreliable indicator of quality.
“We spent 20 years optimising the internet to help people find information,” says Miles. “We now need to optimise it to help people make choices.”
The role of curation is already recognised by independent creators working in other fields. Hannah Shaw, founder of Studio Founded, trained in museum curating before establishing a full-service studio and template library. She argues that a collection’s value is influenced by the judgement applied to deciding what should be included.
“We keep our collection small, with art-directed designs that carry a point of view,” says Hannah. “I prefer a curated collection of templates that can form part of a customer’s brand for years to come.”
For independent creators, being selected and discovered can be as important as creating the product itself. A specialist developer may build an excellent plugin. A designer may produce an exceptional template. A small software company may create a genuinely useful solution.
None of these achievements necessarily translate into visibility. Larger organisations can invest in search optimisation, paid advertising, content marketing and increasingly sophisticated online campaigns. Smaller creators may have the skills to produce outstanding products without having comparable resources to promote them.
For Roland van den Hout, co-founder of Squarespace plugin developer SQSMODS, this creates a problem even for products that have already established their value. “We’re living in an attention economy where the real problem isn’t access; it’s overload. More tools, more choices, and more noise compete for the same limited attention. That makes curation incredibly valuable.”
Roland continues: “SquareLocator helps people cut through that noise and find the Squarespace tools worth discovering. For us at SQSMODS, it means being found in the right context, by people already looking for ways to make Squarespace better.”
“The internet has become very good at rewarding visibility,” says Miles. “But visibility and quality aren’t necessarily the same thing.”
Specialist ecosystems face an additional challenge because users often have narrowly defined needs. A designer could be searching for a particular Squarespace integration. A business owner might need a specific type of template. A developer could be looking for a tool that addresses one precise technical requirement.
Although the right resource may be available, finding it can involve navigating search engines, social media, community discussions and numerous individual websites. Miles created SquareLocator to address this discovery gap. Launched in June 2026, the platform combines Squarespace templates, plugins, tools and courses from independent creators within a curated environment.
SquareLocator does not aim to become an exhaustive directory. Instead, it focuses on selected resources and clearer routes to discovery. Miles describes the approach as creating a stronger filter rather than simply building a larger database.
“There’s a misconception that discovery means giving people more options,” he says. “Sometimes the most useful thing you can do is remove 90 per cent of the options and help someone understand why the remaining 10 per cent are worth looking at.”
According to Miles, this issue could become more significant as AI reduces the time, cost and expertise required to produce digital products and content. If the volume of available resources continues to grow, creators could face even greater competition for limited user attention. Platforms designed to help users distinguish between visibility and value could therefore become increasingly relevant.
“AI is going to make it easier to create,” says Miles. “But if everyone can create more, the ability to discover the right things becomes even more important.”
SquareLocator currently operates within the Squarespace ecosystem, although Miles believes the model could extend into other specialist communities. He sees potential for niche platforms centred on expertise, trust and recommendations to complement or replace larger directories that attempt to list everything.
“The creator economy doesn’t necessarily have an ideas problem,” he concludes. “It has a discoverability problem. There are incredible people building incredible things. The challenge is making sure the right people can find them.”
