Agentic browsers: the next evolution of web interaction

The internet is entering a new phase. 

Browsers are evolving from passive tools into intelligent agents that understand intent and take action. These agentic browsers are built to understand user intent and act on it instantly. From routine tasks such as completing purchases to informed strategic decisions, they’re set to redefine online interaction.

This article breaks down what agentic browsers are and what this shift means for businesses navigating the next era of the web.

What are agentic browsers?

An agentic browser is more than a traditional web browser. Instead of acting as a passive tool for users to click, type, and scroll, it works as an intelligent assistant that interprets intent, takes actions, and completes tasks on behalf of the user.

Think of it as moving from manual navigation to task delegation:

• Instead of browsing multiple airline websites, a user simply asks their browser to “book me the cheapest direct flight from London to Berlin next Friday” – and it compares, selects, and completes the process.
• Instead of opening multiple news or research tabs, a user might say, “summarise the latest updates on AI regulation in the EU” – and the browser compiles a concise report with cited sources.

Examples of agentic browsers

As of late 2025, several tech companies are entering the agentic browser space, signalling a major shift in how we interact with the web:

• ChatGPT Atlas (OpenAI) – A new AI-native browser with an Agent Mode that can navigate pages, click, fill forms, and perform actions based on your instructions.
• Perplexity Comet – A Chromium-based AI browser that acts as a “thought partner,” using AI to browse, summarise, and perform multi-step workflows via chat commands.
• Fellou – Marketed as the “first agentic browser,” designed for automated workflows and proactive tasks like deep research or report generation.
  fellou.ai
• Dia – Reimagines tabs with a conversational, goal-oriented interface that remembers and summarises across sessions.
• Opera Neon – An experimental browser that automates tasks and can create outputs like code or websites from user requests.
  

Normal browser vs agentic browser: what’s the difference?

What do agentic browsers mean for your business?

For marketing, analytics, and optimisation teams, agentic browsers will fundamentally change how users interact with your digital presence. The implications are profound:

1. Web analytics will evolve

Traditional metrics such as page views or click paths may no longer reflect the real customer journey. Instead, businesses will need to measure intent fulfilment, information accuracy, and task completion — how effectively their content satisfies user intent through agentic interactions.

2. Optimisation becomes task-centric

The focus will shift from optimising landing pages to ensuring your data and content are structured in ways agentic browsers can access, interpret, and act upon. Structured information, schema markup, and clarity of messaging become key to visibility.

3. Competition will intensify

As browsers begin comparing and ranking results autonomously, visibility won’t depend on clicks or ads but on data quality, trust signals, and source authority. Businesses will need to ensure their information is accurate, machine-readable, and authoritative enough to be cited or prioritised by AI systems.

4. Data accessibility creates competitive advantage

Agentic browsers rely on clear, structured, and accessible web data to perform tasks accurately. Websites that publish machine-readable content, using schema markup, consistent metadata, and transparent information architecture, will be easier for browsers to interpret and act upon. In this new landscape, accessibility isn’t just about usability; it’s about ensuring your information can be understood and executed by the browser itself.

Do we really need another browser or a new interface for the web?

At first glance, the last thing the world seems to need is another browser. 

Chrome, Safari, Edge, and Firefox already dominate how we access the web. But a new generation is changing what that experience means.

Traditional browsers were built for a world of pages, clicks, and manual navigation. The agentic era demands something different: a browser that understands your intent, reasons about context, and acts autonomously. In that sense, these new “AI-native” browsers aren’t competitors to Chrome – they’re successors to the search engine itself.

So why are all the major AI labs building them?

1. Control of the user interface means control of the user relationship.
   Whoever owns the interface through which people access the web owns the data, the trust, and the habit loop. AI labs see browsers as the next front in the platform war — the new “home screen” for the agentic web.
   
2. Search is fragmenting; so is attention.
   Agentic browsers blend search, chat, and automation. Instead of sending traffic out to the web, they pull the web in to the conversation. That shift makes them the new gateway to information, commerce, and content.
   
3. They’re data-starved — and browsers are data firehoses.
   AI models need continuous, structured interaction data to learn and improve. A browser gives direct visibility into what users ask, how they act, and what outcomes they seek.
   
4. The missing link between language models and the real web.
   Large language models can reason and generate, but they lack grounding in live, changing data. Agentic browsers give them a way to act, validate, and update in real time.
   

Do we need another browser? Maybe not in the traditional sense. But we need a new kind of interface – one that replaces search bars with intent statements and web pages with outcomes. That’s the race AI labs are running today.

Our view on the challenges ahead

While the opportunities are exciting, the transition to an agentic web brings serious challenges that businesses must understand and prepare for. 

1. Attribution and Measurement Breakdown

The analytics model that digital marketing has relied on for decades could become completely outdated. Here’s why:

• Attribution crisis: Analytics frameworks depend on page loads, but if a browser answers questions and completes tasks without users ever visiting your site, your tracking pixels never fire. Without page visits, the entire chain of touchpoints that inform marketing decisions disappears.
• Metric death: Page views, bounce rates, session duration, and conversion funnels all assume users navigate through your site. When agents extract, synthesise, and act on behalf of users, these metrics become meaningless.
• New measurement paradigm: Businesses will need to shift from tracking traffic volume to monitoring brand mentions in agent responses, citation accuracy, context quality, and task completion rates.

2. Security Vulnerabilities in Agent Commerce

• Prompt injection: Malicious instructions can be embedded in external content that agents read, potentially manipulating their behaviour in dangerous ways.
• Agent hijacking: Bad actors could gain unauthorised control of agent behaviour, directing them to malicious sites or fraudulent transactions.
• Financial risk: Agents could make unauthorised purchases without proper user awareness or consent, creating liability issues for both businesses and consumers.

3. Web Development & Optimisation Complexity

• Development complexity: Teams must now maintain compatibility for both human users and AI agents, essentially building and maintaining two different experiences.
• Error handling gaps: Agent failures could break user flows in unexpected ways, requiring entirely new approaches to testing and error management.
• Design constraints: Optimising for agent readability may limit creative freedom and visual design choices that appeal to human users.

4. Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO) Challenges

• Traffic identification & attribution breakdown: Agents don’t self-declare their identity or respect robots.txt conventions, making it nearly impossible to separate agent traffic from human behaviour or track conversions accurately when agents complete purchases differently than humans.
• Testing & analysis validity: Agent behaviour can skew A/B test results and render traditional funnel metrics meaningless when agents bypass standard user flows, making it difficult to understand what actually works.
• User experience conflicts: Optimising for agents may actually hurt the human user experience, forcing difficult trade-offs between agent-readability and human-centred design.

5. Tracking & Analytics Infrastructure Issues

• Behavioural & intent signal loss: Zero scroll depth, instant actions, and unusually efficient navigation paths eliminate the behavioural signals needed to understand user engagement, intent, and interest levels.
• Identity & personalisation breakdown: Loss of demographic information, inability to build user profiles, and inconsistent identity across agent-mediated sessions undermine personalisation strategies and cross-device tracking.
• Journey mapping & tool incompatibility: Agent-mediated interactions add complexity to customer journey analysis, while existing analytics platforms weren’t designed for agent traffic and may provide misleading data.

What we recommend doing now

The rise of agentic browsers changes how your website needs to communicate with intelligent systems. To stay discoverable and relevant:

1. Make your content agent-readable
   Use structured data, clean HTML, and accessible metadata so agentic browsers can interpret your information accurately.
   
2. Adopt transparent and consistent messaging
   AI-driven browsers rely on clarity. Ensure your value propositions and key facts are unambiguous across all pages.
   
3. Rethink measurement frameworks
   Start tracking task completion and response citations rather than clicks and dwell time.
   
4. Experiment with AI browser behaviour
   Test how emerging agentic browsers interpret and surface your site’s content.
   
5. Stay informed and adaptable
   Standards for agentic browsing are still evolving — keep up with new protocols, integrations, and visibility models.

Final thoughts

Just as search engines and social platforms reshaped digital marketing, agentic browsers will change how customers make decisions and how businesses compete for attention. The integrations we’re seeing are just the first wave.

The question isn’t whether to prepare for agentic browsers – it’s whether you’ll lead this transition or be forced to catch up. 

Connect with us to explore how your business can prepare for this shift and stay ahead of the curve.