AI Agents Should Use the Same Web as Everyone Else

Jim Nielsen reflects on an argument from Jason Grigsby and the Safari team that AI agents should not receive special treatment when accessing websites.

An agent acting on someone’s behalf is effectively another form of assistive technology. It should use the same semantic HTML, accessibility information, APIs and interfaces available to the person it represents, rather than receiving a private machine-only entrance.

Jim is absolutely right.

The industry should be bridging gaps in the existing web platform instead of creating bespoke access for AI. When an agent cannot understand a form, navigate an interface or complete a task, that may reveal the same accessibility and interoperability problems humans have already been dealing with.

Billions of dollars are being invested in making AI agents capable of using the web. That investment should improve the underlying web for everyone, including people using screen readers, keyboard navigation, alternative input devices, automation tools and browsers that do not behave exactly like Chrome.

Giving agents preferential access also creates the wrong incentives. Companies may neglect their public interfaces while maintaining cleaner, more capable private systems for machines. Humans would be left with the slow, cluttered and inaccessible version while agents receive structured access behind the scenes.

The web should not have a first-class entrance for AI and a second-class entrance for people.

Fix the semantics. Improve accessibility. Standardize the APIs. Let agents use the same tools as everyone else. A better web for machines should begin with a better web for humans.

Read “Can the Tide of AI Investment Lift All Boats on the Web?” by Jim Nielsen.