Google AI Summaries Are Ruining the Livelihoods of Recipe Writers: “It’s an Extinction Event”

For years, food bloggers and recipe writers built their livelihoods around a simple formula: create high-quality recipes, optimise them for search engines, and earn income through website visits, ads, and sponsorships. Now, many say that model is collapsing—fast. The reason? Google’s AI-generated summaries, which increasingly answer users’ questions directly on the search page without sending traffic to the original creators.

Recipe writers describe the shift in dramatic terms. “It’s an extinction event,” one food blogger said, echoing a growing fear across the digital publishing world. When Google’s AI summaries display ingredients, cooking steps, and tips upfront, users no longer need to click through to the original recipe. For creators who rely on page views to pay their bills, that loss of traffic can be devastating.

Traditionally, recipe websites thrived on search visibility. Someone typed “easy chicken curry recipe,” clicked a link, and landed on a blog filled with personal stories, step-by-step instructions, photos, and cooking advice. That click generated ad revenue and helped sustain the creator. But AI summaries now extract the most useful information and present it instantly, often without meaningful attribution.

Google argues that AI summaries improve user experience by saving time. From a consumer perspective, that’s hard to deny. Busy home cooks appreciate quick answers. But for creators, it feels like their work is being repackaged and redistributed without fair compensation. Many point out that AI models are trained on years of human-written content—content that took time, skill, and money to produce.

The impact is already visible. Some recipe writers report traffic drops of 40 to 70 percent since AI summaries became more prominent. Lower traffic means reduced ad income, fewer brand deals, and shrinking opportunities for growth. Smaller, independent creators are especially vulnerable, as they lack the financial cushion of major media companies.

Beyond economics, there’s also a cultural concern. Recipe blogs are more than instruction manuals—they preserve family traditions, regional cuisines, and personal stories. If creators disappear, so does that diversity. AI summaries tend to flatten content, offering efficient but soulless instructions that lack context, creativity, and cultural depth.

Critics warn this trend could reshape the internet itself. If creators can’t earn a living, fewer people will invest time in producing original content. The web risks becoming a loop where AI recycles old material instead of fostering new voices and ideas.

Some creators are experimenting with solutions, such as subscription models, newsletters, and social media platforms less dependent on search traffic. Others are calling for policy changes, clearer attribution, or revenue-sharing models between tech companies and content creators.

For now, uncertainty hangs over the food blogging community. Google’s AI summaries may be convenient for users, but for recipe writers, they represent a profound threat to sustainability. As one creator put it, “If this continues, there won’t be anyone left to write the recipes AI depends on.”