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We’re on the cusp of a basic redesign of the web. Not a facelift. A full-body transplant.
For greater than 30 years, the online has been our playground, our office, our excessive road and our therapist’s sofa. But it surely’s additionally been solely designed for us easy people who sort, faucet, click on and scroll. Interfaces constructed for eyes. Navigation designed for fingers. Choice timber dressed up as web sites.
However right here’s the reality: We’re not going to be the online’s major customers for for much longer.
AI brokers primarily based on ChatGPT, Copilot, Claude and Gemini are transferring from passive assistants to lively contributors. Right this moment, we ask them to do issues for us. Tomorrow, we’ll authorize them to behave as us.
And proper now, we’re asking Ferraris to drive on cobblestone.
AI is already making an attempt to function inside a human-shaped world. Clicking buttons. Dragging cursors. Filling out kinds. It’s like placing a robotic in a glove and telling it to fake it’s acquired fingers. It really works, for now, nevertheless it’s wildly inefficient.
Bear in mind when vehicles first appeared on horse trails? Properly, I don’t however I do know the story. It labored, barely. Till somebody realized velocity requires tarmac. The identical logic applies to the online. AI brokers aren’t going to only be digital chauffeurs. They’re going to be drivers that navigate, resolve and transact. Quick. With out us within the loop.
We’re about to want a brand new internet.
AI brokers require machine-native design
What does the online appear to be when it’s constructed for machines?
It’s quick. Invisible. Transactional. Pages turn out to be endpoints. Interfaces dissolve. There are not any “click on right here” buttons. Simply structured information, unstructured context, uncovered capabilities and intent flowing between programs.
APIs will turn out to be the brand new storefronts. AI doesn’t have to learn a product web page or scroll via a overview carousel. It must ask one query: “Is that this the most suitable choice primarily based on my person’s preferences, funds and priorities?” And it wants that reply immediately.
The complete structure of the web will bend towards AI-native interfaces. Quicker protocols. Cleaner metadata. Verifiable sources. Belief turns into the forex as a result of AI can’t depend on vibes. Brokers will assess supply reliability, cross-check info and study from person outcomes. Popularity, construction and verification indicators will matter greater than design.
And out of the blue, “person expertise” takes on a distinct that means. You’re not designing for a distracted shopper. You’re designing for an artificial mind with infinite tabs open and nil tolerance for friction.
Two webs, one future
So what occurs subsequent?
We might find yourself with two parallel webs. One for people that is still visible, persuasive, sluggish. One for machines that’s minimal, environment friendly, quick.
However extra doubtless, the longer term is layered. Each digital floor will want a machine-readable pores and skin. Your web site, your content material, your commerce, if it’s not optimized for autonomous brokers, it’s invisible.
This modifications all the pieces:
website positioning turns into MEO: machine expertise optimization.
Content material turns into information.
Model belief turns into much more quantifiable and clear.
Affect shifts from design to accessibility, from structure to latency.
Effectivity and trustable turn out to be key web site differentiators. The manufacturers that embrace this shift early to construct AI-ready entrance doorways, not simply fairly touchdown pages will thrive . . They are going to deal with their AI compatibility the way in which they as soon as handled cell optimization or safety.
As a result of in 5 years, it gained’t be a human clicking “purchase now.” It’ll be your AI agent, appearing in your behalf, making a whole lot of choices a day — not simply purchases, however scheduling conferences, reserving journey, screening content material and negotiating providers throughout each area of digital life.
And it gained’t select the prettiest web site, it’ll select the quickest, most dependable and reliable, most machine-readable one.
Backside line
We’re not simply upgrading browsers. We’re rewriting the principles of the online.
The previous web was constructed for individuals. The brand new one will probably be constructed for brokers. And the businesses that acknowledge this and construct infrastructure, content material and interfaces accordingly, will more than likely personal the longer term.
Similar to roads developed for vehicles, the online will evolve for AI.
And the subsequent digital revolution? It’ll be executed in milliseconds by machines, for machines, on an internet designed for (and fairly probably by) them.
Justin Westcott leads the worldwide know-how sector for Edelman.
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