🤖 AI Browsers Running The Show

📥 Hello, and greetings from the Central Office!

We’re continuing our commitment to transparency by sharing our progress every week.

This week, the spotlight is on data and insight.

Our developers introduced a custom analytics SDK that helps us understand how users interact with our plugins.

These updates lay the groundwork for smarter decision-making and continuous improvement based on real user behavior.

Microsoft reports 70% of Fortune 500 companies now use Microsoft 365 Copilot. Google claims billions of monthly AI assists across Workspace. Salesforce launched Agentforce for scaled agent deployments. OpenAI released ChatGPT Atlas with Agent Mode that executes tasks. Perplexity made Comet available to everyone—an AI-first browser that "works for you."

The browser now interprets pages, carries context, and acts on your behalf. It reads content, synthesizes answers, fills forms, and completes tasks. You ask for an outcome. The agent gets you there. Without showing you the website.

Here's the structural constraint: "If the browser acts, people click less and complete more tasks in place."

That's not a UX improvement for creators dependent on platform traffic. That's discovery layer intermediation. When agents read, synthesize, and complete tasks on behalf of users, your content gets selected, summarized, or ignored—and you never see the session.

Traditional flow: User searches → clicks your content → reads → decides → converts. Every step measurable. Every touchpoint visible.

Agent flow: User asks browser → agent selects sources → synthesizes answer → completes task. Zero visibility for creators who don't control the data layer.

Search marketing expert Duane Forrester identifies the shift: agents decide which sources to read and how to synthesize them. Your goal moves from ranking to getting selected by an agent optimizing for user constraints. Attribution breaks when agents complete tasks without showing users your website.

The technical requirements? Schema markup. Documented APIs. Machine-readable product feeds. Agent-friendly task artifacts—checklists, how-to flows, short-form answers safe to execute against.

Platform-dependent infrastructure—Medium, YouTube, Substack, TikTok—locks creators out of these requirements. No schema markup access, no API control. Can't instrument agent-mediated events. Google uses YouTube videos to train Veo 3 without creator payment or opt-outs. Medium posts can't expose structured data. Substack's free tier offers zero technical access for agent optimization. Platforms negotiate with browser makers. Creators watch traffic patterns change.

Compare that to owned WordPress infrastructure: Install schema.org markup across your content library. Document APIs for inventory, pricing, and availability. Create agent-optimized task snippets—short summaries agents can lift safely. Instrument agent-mediated events in your analytics. Define conversion credit for browser-initiated sessions.

The infrastructure economics:

Platform-dependent means agents intermediate discovery while creators lose visibility. Without optimization capability, traffic declines as agent adoption grows. $0 exit value regardless of historical traffic levels.

Owned infrastructure delivers direct control over schema, APIs, and structured data. Optimized for agent selection. Email subscribers and members bypass the agent layer entirely. 3-6x ARR at exit.

Browser paradigm shifts move fast when they deliver clear utility. Chrome took four years to reach 31% market share after launch. Forrester projects "even a modest 10 to 15% adoption rate for agentic browsers within three years would represent one of the fastest paradigm shifts since Chrome's launch."

Three years to 15% adoption. That's faster than most creators will notice the traffic shift.

Early adopters test agent browsing for research tasks and form completion. Those building on rented infrastructure see minor traffic fluctuations but attribute them to algorithm changes. By year three, agent adoption hits 10-15% and click-through rates decline. Creators can't diagnose why. Platforms optimize for agent selection while creators without technical control watch traffic erode. Year four: agent browsing becomes standard for high-intent queries. Creators locked into Medium, YouTube, or Substack discover they can't retrofit agent optimization without migrating infrastructure.

When browsers complete tasks without showing users your website, traditional attribution breaks. Someone with 50,000 Medium followers can't optimize for agent selection—they don't control structure, can't update schema, and platform rendering blocks agent-friendly formatting.

The infrastructure difference: WordPress site with 5,000 email subscribers, proper schema markup, and documented APIs = positioned for agent selection + direct subscriber access that bypasses agents entirely. Medium publication with 50,000 followers = zero technical control + zero agent optimization capability + declining traffic as agents become default research interface.

Those building on rented infrastructure are betting their distribution on systems they can't optimize for the next browser paradigm.

Chrome's adoption took four years. Your WordPress install took four hours. Which one can you optimize for the next browser shift?

41% of social media users attended in-person influencer events in 2025

The Influencer Marketing Factory's survey of 1,000 U.S. respondents shows creators shifting from screens to live experiences. StubHub reports influencers, podcasters, and authors sold 500% more event tickets in 2025 versus 2024. The reveal: 84% of attendees formed new friendships at creator events. Building community through owned experiences, not platform algorithms.