Making the internet better for AI agents might make it worse for everyone else

Millions of AI agents are descending on a web built for humans. Websites are trying to keep them out, but the arrival of these new visitors could transform the internet. Until recently, you could divide internet users into just two categories: bots and people. Websites have long allowed bots to perform automated tasks, like capturing the content of web pages, but rules govern what they can access and how they behave. The web, after all, is designed primarily for people, even if we occasionally have to solve puzzles and captchas to prove we are not bots. But this is being entirely upended by the release of personal AI agents, which can do things for you online, like booking flights or hotel rooms.