Yes, this is the real issue, and it is a pity so many comments delve into json vs. xml and not on the title stating that "google is killing the open web". A new stage of the web is forming where Big Tech AI isn't just chatbots, but matured to offer fully operational end-to-end services. All AI-operated and served, up to tailor-made domain-specific UI. Then the corporations, winners in their market, don't have a need for open web anymore to slurp data from. All open web data absorbed, now fresh human creativity flows in exclusively via these service, directly feeding the AI systems.

There are a lot of comments focusing more on the specifics of XML and XSLT because that's what much of the article laboriously drones on about, despite its general title.