In this article, Aaron Simpson, founder, Kindred, details how AI systems can be used effectively for monetisation, without compromising user experience.

As AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Meta AI evolve into full-fledged consumer assistants, they face a fundamental problem: how to monetise without breaking trust.

Today’s digital economy is largely built on intent monetisation through ads, keywords, and affiliate links. But when users interact with conversational AI, there are no search result pages, no banner ads, no sidebars. The UI disappears. The assistant becomes the interface.

So the big question becomes: how can AI systems monetise without being intrusive or biased, while still fulfilling commercial intent?

The answer isn’t easy. Most large language models were trained on static, non-commercial datasets. They weren’t designed to transact. Worse still, inserting monetisation retroactively through promoted answers or sponsored hallucinations risks eroding trust and usability.

Which is why the industry now finds itself stuck between two unattractive options:

   •   Old models of monetisation (ads, clicks, search arbitrage) that don’t fit the AI context

   •   New experimental methods like subscriptions, pay-per-use tokens, or walled-garden APIs, none of which scale for mass consumer use

But there’s a third path.

Datasets such as Kindred’s Global Merchant offer a clean, scalable way to connect AI output to real-world commercial outcomes. Not through ads. Not through sponsorships. But through direct, structured links to products and services, grounded in data, not manipulation.

For example, we power keyword and product link resolution across 100,000 merchants and 4 million deal URLs globally. When a user asks an AI to recommend a jacket, a surfboard, a spa retreat in Morocco, or a meal delivery option in São Paulo, our dataset gives the AI an answer it can act on — transparently, accurately, and monetisably.

But it’s not just about infrastructure. It’s about human value. Every deal link we power represents a chance for someone to save money, discover a better price, or access a new brand they wouldn’t have found otherwise. For families managing budgets, students trying to stretch their income, or small businesses shopping smarter, AI-guided commerce can become a source of real-world benefit.

The real challenge isn’t how to sell through AI. It’s how to sell without selling out the user experience. That’s where link-level, intent-native infrastructure comes in. Not banners. Not bids. Just direct paths to value.

AI will need more than answers. It will need actions. And every action will need a reliable, ethical way to drive value without undermining trust.