21 Jul 2025
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.
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.
With the ability to safely and effectively store persistent user memory, AI models will learn preferences and goals, redefining user experience. This personalisation will enable models to act on a user’s behalf, assisting with general tasks like shopping and booking holidays, as well as major research projects. Technical solutions for secure and effective memory recall are already in development.
“2025 is the year of AI agents”
Jensen Huang, CEO, NVIDIA
This is going to be an exponential shift in technology, and web/mobile apps that can’t be crawled by AI agents risk missing out on customers and revenue as this technology becomes the new social norm. So what should businesses be doing now in order to keep up? We advise proactive preparation of your systems and applications to stay ahead of this trend.
Acting now is critical to securing a significant first-mover advantage. Here are three crucial things you need to act on:
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.
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/.
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:
Think of structured data as your handshake with an AI agent — it tells them exactly what you offer and how to use it.
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.
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
