The currency of the web used to be the “Click.” Publishers produced content, users clicked ads, and money changed hands. It was a simple, transactional economy.
The Agentic Web runs on a different currency: The Token.
But not all tokens are created equal. When an AI generates an answer, it synthesizes information from dozens of sources. Who gets the credit? Who gets the reference link? This is the problem of Token Attribution, and Grokipedia’s solution is nothing short of a new economic system for the internet.
The Shapley Value of Content
Grokipedia uses a Game Theoretic approach known as Shapley Values to determine attribution.
Imagine an AI agent answering the question: “How do I fix a leaky faucet in a 1920s house?”
- Source A provides the general steps for fixing a faucet.
- Source B provides specific details about 1920s plumbing standards.
- Source C provides a warning about lead pipes common in that era.
The AI constructs a response. But to decide which source to cite, Grokipedia runs a counter-factual simulation:
- If we remove Source A, does the answer fail? (Yes, the steps are gone).
- If we remove Source B, does the answer fail? ( Partially, it loses context).
- If we remove Source C, does the answer fail? (Yes, the user might get lead poisoning).
In this model, Source C might receive the highest “Attribution Score” because it provided the critical safety constraint, even if it only contributed 5% of the total words.
The “Marginal Utility” SEO Strategy
This upends the “Long Form Content” strategy. Writing a 5,000-word guide is inefficient if 4,900 words are generic fluff that contributes zero marginal utility to the Shapley calculation.
To maximize your Token Attribution (and thus your traffic/revenue), you must focus on High Marginal Utility information.
- Original Data: Proprietary statistics that no one else has.
- Unique Constraints: Warnings, edge cases, and specific limitations.
- contrarian Perspectives: Validated counter-arguments that refine the consensus.
The Attribution Ledger
We are moving toward a future where Grokipedia maintains a “Ledger of Attribution.” Every time your content is used to ground an inference, you earn a micro-credit of authority. Accumulate enough, and your domain becomes a “Pinned Source”—permanently cached in the model’s context window.
The days of “writing for volume” are over. We are now “writing for value.” You are no longer a publisher; you are a supplier of intellectual capital to a global intelligence market. Optimize your supply chain accordingly.