> Realistically, what was the benefit of the ad-driven model? ...Is this really what we want to preserve? Big publications and their interests?

They are proposing a scheme by which AI scrapers would have to pay for the content they scrape, which could replace the ad-driven model and be viable for more creators.

How is this better for creators than ads?

After AI scrape the ad free content, they'll probably turn around and show end users the AI summary with Ads. It never ends. The problem is a much deeper flaw at the heart of capitalism. Enshitification of everything.