Ready or not, AI agents will dominate the internet by 2027

If you need to know the answer to a question, who do you turn to? Most likely, your first thought is to search on Google. But what captures your attention once the results appear? Do you systematically look for relevant links, or do you gravitate towards the conversational answer provided directly by Gemini, Google’s AI assistant?

An OrbitMedia/QuestionPro survey (May 2025) found roughly 62% of people use an AI chatbot every day and 51% plan to use them more, with 49% believing chatbots will eventually replace search engines. As technology advances, people are ultimately becoming more reliant on artificial intelligence.

We’re at the beginning of a major shift toward intelligent technology. According to Open AI CEO, Sam Altman, by 2027, AI agents could account for 70% of all web traffic. Time is one of our most valuable resources – so why spend it shopping, booking travel, or browsing endlessly online when AI could handle those tasks for you, saving you half the time and nearly all the effort?

If your business offers online experiences, it’s crucial to prepare for this major shift in consumer behavior. Those who get ahead of the curve will gain a competitive edge – while those who fail to adapt risk falling behind or becoming irrelevant.

What is Agentic AI?

Agentic AI means the ability for models to act and perform tasks on their own, without constant human direction. This is the next evolution beyond tools like ChatGPT and it’s coming faster than most businesses realise.

Today’s AI is reactive: you ask, it answers. The next step is for these models to become proactive. Instead of drafting an email when prompted, an Agentic AI will track your priorities, identify the need for outreach, write the email and send it.

In underserved areas, like Africa, Microsoft is trialling autonomous AI “doctors.” The goal is to provide comprehensive, lifelong health coverage through personal AI physicians.

The competition to develop these solutions is intense, with major enterprises like OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft, alongside numerous startups, already creating prototypes.

1. Foster an agent-first design

When designing software, it’s crucial to consider not only human users but also AI agents. If agents are going to replace user interactions, your business will suffer if your apps and other digital content aren’t easily accessible and crawlable by an AI agent.

A shift in culture is the starting point. All stakeholders, including product owners, developers, QA testers, and clients, must embrace this mindset, which will arguably be the biggest challenge. New ideas and processes naturally face resistance, so we recommend starting small and iteratively taking on new practices, while raising awareness within your organisation.

2. Accessibility

It is more crucial than ever to ensure your platforms are accessible. Agents, much like users of assistive technology, depend on the inherent structure and meaning within your website’s HTML.

If you can easily navigate your site with a screen reader, AI agents will have no problem crawling your site.

At atomic we are strong advocates for accessibility in all digital experiences. The move to agentic AI is another reason why businesses should invest in this best practice. To help your team level-up on accessibility, read our blog article on accessibility: https://www.atomicmedia.co.uk/insights/is-your-digital-experience-ready-for-the-european-accessibility-act/. 

3. Structure your architecture in a machine-friendly way

To effectively engage agents with your platform, it’s crucial to communicate in their language. Providing explicit context will enable agents to better comprehend content and data, ultimately facilitating transactions.

There are a couple of key points to consider:

• Develop clean and well documented APIs to allow agents to interact with your services. Use logical and consistent endpoint naming conventions, such as /api/products and /api/products/{id}/reviews, so agents can infer patterns. Using tools like Swagger generates interactive, machine-readable documentation for your API.

• Many modern web apps use client-side Javascript frameworks to build content and HTML dynamically after the initial page has loaded. While this is fine for human interactions, AI agents may not wait for the content to fully render, potentially missing your content entirely. For this reason, it’s worth considering moving to server-side rendering, which sends the fully-rendered HTML to the browser from the start, allowing the AI agent to immediately see the full content of your web app. Not to mention, server side rendered apps are great for your SEO!
  

Think of structured data as your handshake with an AI agent — it tells them exactly what you offer and how to use it.

Conclusion

We’re on the cusp of a major shift in how people interact with technology. As AI agents become more autonomous, mobile and web apps that aren’t ready to engage with them could get left behind.

Agentic AI will live on people’s phones, assist them throughout the day, and increasingly replace traditional user interactions. That means your app needs to be built not just for humans, but for AI agents too. 

It is still early days, so best practices are still evolving and there are three major issues that are yet to be solved.

• Memory. Retaining context long term, over many conversations.
• Planning. The ability to formulate and execute step-by-step actions to achieve a user-defined goal.
• Trust. The glaring privacy and security issues involved with persisting long term memory across conversations.

However, technology is evolving rapidly and staying informed and preparing proactively is crucial. We’ll be closely monitoring developments in this space, and will be updating our clients regularly. Get in touch to chat with one of our team about your agentic AI readiness.