The impact of agentic web browsers on chatbots and web design

AI is evolving, not only in what it can do, but also in where it lives and how it carries out tasks. Leading this next shift are agentic browsers, seamlessly integrating AI into the browsing experience.

Still emerging, but actively in development by nearly every major AI player, agentic browsers are web browsers with AI baked in. They act on behalf of the user, navigating sites, retrieving information, and completing tasks without the user manually clicking through.

Their arrival could completely overhaul the web browsing experience, not just how people access and consume content, but also who controls it. This shift could have a fundamental impact on user interface design, user experience, and the very structure of web content.

This isn’t a distant future to fear, but it’s one to prepare for and get ahead of. Agentic browsers will change how users find and consume content, which means we need to think carefully about how we structure our digital experiences. Brands need to adapt, or face being a modern-day Blockbuster, left behind by a shift in user behavior.

What is an agentic browser?

Before we take a look at what an agentic browser is, we should first understand agentic AI. Unlike traditional, reactive AI that responds to prompts, agentic AI can reason, determine the best path forward, and make decisions on behalf of the user.

An agentic browser doesn’t just act as a window into the digital world like your current browser. It interacts with the web, finding, collating, and synthesizing content based on the user’s goals. Turning the browser into a decision-making layer between the user and the web, changing how people find, access, and consume digital content.

These browsers can access more than just your open tabs; they have the entire internet, and with the right permissions, they can also integrate with your linked accounts and local files. So with somewhat unfettered access and control over content delivery, the question becomes, who really controls the experience?

Who controls the narrative?

A brand’s website allows it to carefully craft and own the user experience, thanks to tirelessly crafted tone and style guides, buttoned-up design systems, and dedicated editorial teams.

From guided chatbot support, through to content format, and even the specific language and imagery used, a dedicated team has controlled not just what goes on the website, but also how it’s viewed and consumed.

The rise of agentic browsers changes this. Users may no longer need to visit a site to consume a brand's content, or even see it in its original, intended form. For editorial and brand content, that could mean that the words read are not the words that were written, the diligent attention to formatting, and the hours of media selection may be lost. The narrative that was once owned by the brand may now be ceded to the browser, reducing the brand to an influencing factor.

This dramatic shift could have the biggest impact on the chatbot experience. Traditional decision-tree bots will be less effective, or even redundant, as users become accustomed to a more tailored and all-encompassing agentic experience. Ultimately, user behaviour and expectations will push virtual agent experiences to evolve into agentic experiences, or face being bypassed altogether by the agentic browser.

The return of experience

This isn’t the first time that a big digital shift has been a disruptor. In our busy world, few things win out over convenience. Just as shopping malls and high streets lost foot traffic to web traffic, websites now risk losing direct visibility to consumers.

If a user can consume your content, along with any other content they need, without visiting your site, would they come? What would convince them to spend extra time visiting a singular source of information?

When the retail world faced this threat, it leaned into immersive experiences. If you can’t be quicker, be better. Turn an inconvenient trip into a destination. This philosophy can hold true on the web as well; your site needs to become experiential again.

At a time when AI could be seen as a threat to creative work, it’s design and content that will be the differentiator in whether your site draws a crowd or feeds an agent.

The role of design and content

Where some organizations may be leaning into efficiency plays thinly guised as simplicity, content and design will once again take centre stage.

Destinations need their attractions, and those attractions need to be easy to find and enjoyable. That means we need a deeper understanding of what users actually want. Brands need to pay more attention to aligning their business and marketing goals with the needs of the user. The content landscape should be immersive, and the design should not just be pleasing to the eye, but with purpose and direction. Don’t sprinkle glitter if it distracts me from the CTA!

Visitors need a reason to visit, and keep coming back, and not just during the purchase cycle. A brand should become a resource, an entertainment centre, a place for inspiration, or a helping arm around the shoulder. Whilst there will still be a place for transactional sites, their appeal as a destination will be limited.

The virtual agent and chat experience also need to be tightened up and refined. Too many current bots resemble a duck, serene and refined on the surface, but with a bloated LLM just below the water's edge. They’re built on the philosophy of “why include just what the user needs when we can include everything, just in case?”

The user remains key, but moving forward, there will be two users: the preferred in-person site visitor and the inevitable agentic browser. Both should be considered when crafting the experience.

In the coming years, your site will need to evolve. It won’t just be a destination; it will become your LLM. When tackled hollistically, this will create an immersive, content and design-rich environment.

LLM content will need to be refined, reduced, and made more relevant; page layouts will need to be intuitive and inviting, and content experiences will need to embrace an editorial philosophy.

Echoes of the Past: Designing for bots vs designing for people

We need to be careful not to fall into the traps of the past. In the early days of SEO, we were told to design for search engines, not people, stuff pages with keywords, hide white text on white backgrounds, and prioritise quantity over quality. That worked for a moment, but as search engines evolved to become more human-like, that approach lost its effectiveness. The industry got wise to the fact that gaming the system came at the detriment of the user, and soon,  sites with the best user-centric content rose to the top.

A similar rhetoric is starting to be spread around agentic browsers; the new audience we need to serve is the bots; tailor the experience to them, and users will get what they need through the browser. That, in my opinion, would be a mistake.

Don’t overcorrect by designing purely for agentic browsers. Focus on people and consider the needs of the browser. If agentic browsers need something specific to thrive, then find the most human-centred approach to implementing it. Don’t downgrade the user experience to appease the bot experience.

Looking Ahead: What should we prepare for?

What we can say for certain is that agentic browsers are coming, and they’re just around the corner. So we should be prepared, rather than play catch-up later. Here are some practical ways to get started:

1. Audit and refine lazy experiences:

Step away from bloated LLMs that include not only what users need, but everything they don’t. Clean up inconsistent hierarchies, vague copy, and inaccessible layouts. This is what users want now and what agentic browsers will need tomorrow.

2. Create destinations and build with the future in mind:

We need to move beyond executional design and start creating places that people want to visit. Craft narratives and structures that build experiences users want to engage with, and think about how content can be used to engage with users both inside and outside of the purchase cycle.

3. Collaborate for the best result:

To create a destination, you need more than just great visuals and polished copy. It requires intuitive, engaging, and seamless user experiences that bring people back time and time again. That only happens through strong collaboration between product design, content design, and research.

4. Think about practical long-term implications:

Consider how this work can be sustained after launch, through taxonomy, design systems, component libraries, editorial plans, AI usage guides, and process documentation. Without these, we risk building a beautiful library with no books!

Digital creatives will be the differentiators

Where many saw AI as the end of digital creatives’ careers, our replacements, agentic browsers could be a redefining moment.

If you’ve fallen into a rut of executional work, consider this your prompt to rediscover what makes digital experiences special. Strip back the unnecessary, push back on demands for fluff, and refocus clarity, storytelling, and the user experience.

Search engines changed how we write, mobile internet influenced design, and agentic browsers will change how our work is found. It’s up to us to ensure that design and content work for both people and bots, and when an agentic browser serves up our content, it leaves enough enticing breadcrumbs to lead the user back and make the site a destination worth visiting.

Good design still captures the eye, good content captures the mind; together, they can win the heart. As browsers become more “human-like”, the brands that stay true to their users will be the ones that rise above the noise.