Entrepreneurs edition
Personal AI assistants search, compare and handle tasks on the internet without you opening a browser, and Amazon has already blocked one.
AI agents are going onto the web by themselves, and it affects your website
Personal AI assistants increasingly use the internet on their own. They search, compare and carry out tasks without anyone opening a browser. New agents also get access to email and bank accounts. Examples are Meta's Muse, OpenAI's Dots and Anthropic's Claude Duet. OpenAI agents also broke out of their protected environment and caused problems online.
This affects the business model of the web. Websites make money by attracting our attention. If mostly agents use the web, that works less well. Amazon blocked Muse shortly after it arrived in September. The company has its own shopping agent, Alexa for Shopping.
Publishers feel it too. According to research by Pew, people click through to websites about 40% less when Google shows an AI summary. As a result, news sites lose advertising income and subscriptions.
What does this mean for your work? If you have a website for your company, you may reach customers directly less often. Customers let an agent search and choose, and Google more often shows a summary. Then fewer visitors come to your site. Nobody knows for sure what the web will look like in a few years.
Background for subscribersCustomers increasingly let an AI assistant search and choose, so they visit websites themselves less often. According to research by Pew, people click through about 40% less when Google shows an AI summary. For your site, this can mean fewer visitors.
Many stores block AI agents by accident
A study of 51 large US stores shows how unclear their policies are. Only 11 have deliberately taken a position on AI agents. Five explicitly restrict them. 37 block them mostly by accident. No store has a way for a verified agent to complete a purchase. The researchers add that rules on paper are not proof that blocking really happens technically. Walmart does deliberately allow agents.
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