With artificial intelligence making it easier to produce and distribute digital content at unprecedented scale, web entrepreneur Miles Noble believes trusted human judgement could become increasingly important in helping people separate useful resources from the growing volume of online noise.
The internet has spent the past two decades becoming increasingly effective at helping people locate information. But as artificial intelligence makes it easier to create, organise and surface content, web entrepreneur Miles Noble believes the next challenge is ensuring that the most relevant resources reach the people who actually need them.
That challenge is already emerging within specialist digital communities. SquareLocator, Miles’ curated discovery platform for the Squarespace community, now features more than 1,300 products from almost 80 independent creators, demonstrating the range of digital resources competing for users’ attention.
For independent developers, designers and creators, this growing competition presents a particular challenge. Thousands of specialist digital products are being developed every day, yet many may struggle to reach the audiences they were created to serve.
Miles believes the internet has gradually developed a system in which the strongest product is not necessarily the one that receives the greatest visibility.
“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 value of curation is already understood by some independent creators. Hannah Shaw, founder of Studio Founded, trained in museum curating before establishing a full-service studio and template library. She believes a collection derives its value not simply from how much it contains, but from the thought and judgement that determines what belongs within it.
“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, that distinction is significant. A specialist developer may produce an outstanding plugin. A designer may create an exceptional template. A small software company may build a genuinely useful tool.
Yet producing something valuable does not automatically lead to discovery. Established companies can dedicate substantial budgets to SEO, advertising, content marketing and increasingly sophisticated digital campaigns. Smaller creators may have the expertise to develop excellent products but fewer resources with which to compete for attention.
For Roland van den Hout, co-founder of Squarespace plugin developer SQSMODS, the problem can remain even after a product has demonstrated its 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.”
The challenge is especially pronounced within specialist ecosystems, where users often need highly specific solutions. A designer could be searching for a particular Squarespace integration. A business owner may need a specialist template. A developer might be trying to find a tool designed to address one narrowly defined technical issue.
The appropriate solution may already exist, but locating it can involve working through search results, social media, community discussions and individual websites. This is the challenge Miles aimed to address through SquareLocator. Launched in June 2026, the platform brings together Squarespace templates, plugins, tools and courses from independent creators within a curated discovery environment.
Instead of trying to become an exhaustive directory, SquareLocator focuses on selected resources and straightforward discovery paths. For Miles, the objective is less about creating a larger database and more about providing a more effective filter.
“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.”
Miles expects the issue to become increasingly relevant as AI reduces the barriers to creating digital products and content. Greater production could bring more choice, but it could also intensify competition for people’s attention. This may increase the role of platforms that help users distinguish between what is simply visible and what offers genuine value.
“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 is currently focused on the Squarespace ecosystem, but Miles believes the model could have broader applications. He sees potential for niche communities to increasingly move away from huge, indiscriminate directories and towards smaller specialist platforms built around expertise, trust and recommendation.
“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.”
