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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 net has been our playground, our office, our excessive avenue and our therapist’s sofa. But it surely’s additionally been solely designed for us easy people who kind, 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 net’s major customers for for much longer.
AI brokers based mostly on ChatGPT, Copilot, Claude and Gemini are transferring from passive assistants to energetic individuals. As we speak, 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 attempting to function inside a human-shaped world. Clicking buttons. Dragging cursors. Filling out types. It’s like placing a robotic in a glove and telling it to faux it’s obtained fingers. It really works, for now, however it’s wildly inefficient.
Keep in mind when vehicles first appeared on horse trails? Effectively, I don’t however I do know the story. It labored, barely. Till somebody realized velocity requires tarmac. The identical logic applies to the net. AI brokers aren’t going to only be digital chauffeurs. They’re going to be drivers that navigate, determine and transact. Quick. With out us within the loop.
We’re about to wish a brand new internet.
AI brokers require machine-native design
What does the internet seem like when it’s constructed for machines?
It’s quick. Invisible. Transactional. Pages change into 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 change into the brand new storefronts. AI doesn’t have to learn a product web page or scroll by a overview carousel. It must ask one query: “Is that this the most suitable choice based mostly on my consumer’s preferences, funds and priorities?” And it wants that reply immediately.
The complete structure of the web will bend towards AI-native interfaces. Sooner protocols. Cleaner metadata. Verifiable sources. Belief turns into the foreign money as a result of AI can’t depend on vibes. Brokers will assess supply reliability, cross-check information and be taught from consumer outcomes. Status, construction and verification alerts will matter greater than design.
And all of a sudden, “consumer expertise” takes on a unique which means. You’re not designing for a distracted shopper. You’re designing for an artificial mind with infinite tabs open and 0 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 seemingly, the long run 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 adjustments all the pieces:
- search engine marketing 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 format to latency.
Effectivity and trustable change into 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 best way they as soon as handled cell optimization or safety.
As a result of in 5 years, it received’t be a human clicking “purchase now.” It’ll be your AI agent, appearing in your behalf, making lots of of selections a day — not simply purchases, however scheduling conferences, reserving journey, screening content material and negotiating providers throughout each area of digital life.
And it received’t select the prettiest website, 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 foundations of the net.
The previous web was constructed for folks. 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 probably personal the long run.
Similar to roads developed for vehicles, the net will evolve for AI.
And the following digital revolution? It’ll be executed in milliseconds by machines, for machines, on an internet designed for (and fairly presumably by) them.
Justin Westcott leads the worldwide know-how sector for Edelman.
