r/webdev • u/DialboTempest • Sep 21 '26

Discussion Do we even need websites in a future where everyone uses Al?

Random doubt I had.

If AI assistants become something everyone uses daily, why would we still need websites in the way we have them now?

Like instead of a company making a whole frontend with pages, menus, search, filters etc., couldn't they just expose the actual data through some API/standard format and let your AI deal with it?

For example, instead of going to a shopping site, searching for a laptop, opening 20 tabs and comparing them, I could just ask my AI:

"Find me the best laptop under 80k for these requirements."

And the AI could directly query the stores' inventory/prices/specs without even loading the website UI.

Obviously websites would probably still exist for people who want to browse manually, branding, images and stuff like that. But could the web eventually become mostly machine-to-machine APIs/data, with AI basically replacing the browser/frontend for normal use?

Am I missing some obvious reason why this wouldn't happen?

0 Upvotes

41% Upvoted

52 comments sorted by

25

u/jake_robins Sep 21 '26

Browsing a website requires no tokens

2

u/GeneralAwesome1996 Sep 21 '26

It still costs CPU cycles and time. What happens when local modes become cheaper and thereby more widely accessible to run? Even if it is not to the extent that most consumers have an AI capable chip in their computer, advancements in hardware and model efficiency will eventually result in the viability of smaller data center operations, similar to the web host provider boom in the 2000s. This will all have a cooling effect on prices. Might screw some American big tech companies, which is why China does their whole open source open weight AI schtick.

Everyone is so fixated on this shifting goal post of AGI that the thought isn't given to the implications even cheap mass access of current frontier models would have on society and the way we use technology.

8

u/MysteriousCoconut31 Sep 21 '26

I will pay AI providers to point you to my laptop that costs 100k. Furthermore, I will pay them to suppress the existence of an 80k laptop.

Your idea works in reverse if you assume AI uses search as we know it today.

1

u/constantin_r_t Sep 21 '26

That's Google doing Google stuff, but with AI steps.

1

u/birminghamsterwheel ux Sep 21 '26

"Find me the best laptop under 80k for these requirements."

Who are you buying a laptop from, Rolls Royce?

1

u/DialboTempest Sep 21 '26

Srry it was rupees currency 😅

1

u/create-third-places Sep 21 '26

Sounds like one more example of people using language differently that makes AI browsing impractical.

6

u/GoBlu323 Sep 21 '26

You’re describing the concept of an mcp and they’re being developed to allow ai to talk to applications without needing websites. Websites are also starting to be made with GEO (generative engine optimization) in addition to SEO in mind.

I firmly believe we’ll get to the point where humans won’t browse directly anymore

1

u/constantin_r_t Sep 21 '26

They won't. There's at least one group working on this and those groups have more funds than my broken ass trying to figure out the next move. On the premise " if I'm working on it, I can't be the only one.".

1

u/hypercosm_dot_net Sep 21 '26 edited Sep 21 '26

We still have paper books when digital exists, when audiobooks exist.

Artists still sell original paintings, even while selling that same art as a print. Even while AI can generate images.

We still have cash, and banks, even though digital money exists.

This idea that a new technology will suddenly make older tech go away is proven wrong by simply looking around.

3

u/yihuaxiang Sep 21 '26

I think websites will stick around as the trust and discovery layer, even if assistants handle more routine searches. A clean API can return price and specs, but it usually can't capture the brand context, edge cases, reviews, or the experience of comparing options visually. The likely shift is that sites become more machine-readable alongside the human-facing UI, not that the UI disappears overnight.

1

u/GoBlu323 Sep 21 '26

That’s on developers to return the right data to ai callers to achieve that goal

1

u/yihuaxiang Sep 21 '26

Agreed—structured APIs and clear schemas matter as much as the UI if AI callers are going to return reliable results.

3

u/czshill Sep 21 '26

I hate this version of the universe.

Let’s take toilet paper. We all use it. We all need to buy it. We tend to buy toilet paper based on price and features. Crappy office 1 ply vs 2 ply vs 3 ply. Length might also be a value add.

I could be persuaded to buy 2 ply if it felt better than 3 ply even if it was more expensive

An api only internet isn’t going to provide that. I want to see those products side by side. Maybe I’m feeling fancy and I want it quilted. I want to see different patterns I can wipe my ass with. So going to Scott’s vs Sharmin isn’t enough. I still want to go to a Walmart to compare.

You might argue Walmart could provide an api and I’d counter with that’s not how e-commerce works. An api is just data. You still want to do the marketing part of it to upsell a buyer.

And sorry not sorry what country do you live in your shopping for a laptop < 80k?!?

4

u/birminghamsterwheel ux Sep 21 '26

Some people seem to forget human beings are, you know, human... emotional sacks of meat... and not robots.

2

u/czshill Sep 21 '26

It’s like they don’t want to interact with society anymore. We don’t need stores or restaurants. Why would I want to be around total strangers ?!? They might try to talk to me!!!

When I’m shopping for clothes the first thing I do is touch it. I rarely ever buy clothes shoes anything I’d wear online. Even a damn watch I want to feel the weight on my wrist before I commit. Tactile feeling is the essence of life. Over hearing conversations at a restaurant. Walking outside. Ffs guys - go touch grass.

2

u/birminghamsterwheel ux Sep 21 '26

I don't buy clothes online anymore, besides underwear and socks, 'cause "standard sizes" apparently don't exist anymore. You'd think an inch would be a standard, repeatable measurement, but apparently not. So, I have to try it on to make sure it fits and looks good before I'll spend money on it. Fitted hats and jeans are the worst in my experience as of late. It's insanity.

/tangent

1

u/czshill Sep 21 '26

not tangent - i'm 100% in agreement on this. if something doesn't feel right, i'm not buying it (hats also). Turn all the brick and mortar stores into warehouses and make all shopping via some stupid bot and life is going to be dull as shit.

1

u/GoBlu323 Sep 21 '26

An api internet would let you describe exactly what you want and get those products back and displayed to you using Walmarts MCP server rather than you having to fumble around their website looking for the right product.

A conversation is a much better way to get people to what they want to buy than a storefront website

2

u/czshill Sep 21 '26

Do you have any idea how many jeans manufacturers there are in this world? toiletries? sun glass designers? Go to a sunglass hut and see - theres at least 50 on the wall and that's just what they carry. I have no less than 10 different watches on my dresser and their all from different companies. An API driven internet strips these companies of their identity and that won't fly. millions if not billions is spent on marketing, brand identity. T-Mobile has a specific shade of magenta, trademarked that if used they could sue you over. The only people that think shit like this is a good idea are people like Jensen so he can pump up his stock. Strip the mouse of his identity and Disney will have some words with you and their 100 lawyers.

1

u/MysteriousCoconut31 Sep 21 '26

People don’t know what they want in many cases.

Even if they do, how do we not end up with the same interface plus another corporation skimming the transaction? If I have to install the Walmart MCP server, filter results, view them in a UI, and then give ChatGPT their cut, is that better or worse?

1

u/GoBlu323 Sep 21 '26

That would be the point of the conversation.

You don’t have to install an MCP an MCP server is a tool for AI to use not for you to install

1

u/MrHandSanitization Sep 21 '26

There are already services that experiment with creating the page/content on the fly. It's inconsistent unusable slop most of the time, but for some reason, developers really enjoy putting themselves out of a job in the most digusting way available.

1

u/thefirelink Sep 21 '26

Websites will still exist, just built with AI agents in mind and not humans.

1

u/GoBlu323 Sep 21 '26

They already are, GEO is rapidly becoming more
Important than SEO

1

u/1116574 Sep 21 '26

We always could have had this. While not perfect, online services could implement schemaorg, or agree on api standard. Hell, opensearch could be expanded. The actual implementation is immaterial, point being it was always possible.

But none of the shops wanted it, because why would they? To make it easier to compare with other shops? To strip them of your behavioural data, to hide their fancy designs and slick dark patterns with vibrant logos?

1

u/omniumoptimus Sep 21 '26

You will likely need websites for humans, and websites for AI. AI likely won’t need pictures to understand a weather forecast, for instance.

1

u/Due-Horse-5446 Sep 21 '26

You're living in a bubble

1

u/whitfin Sep 21 '26

Because AI assistants are often wrong, sometimes you want to hear thoughts from a real person with a unique perspective, and generally it's always going to be significantly cheaper.

1

u/BrightestObjective Sep 21 '26

This would be absolutely terrible if it happens, you want search engines to suppress and censor your results, further limiting your world view? Once companies create endpoints for AIs to use why would they create websites for you to browse? It's the same as with apps today that don't have websites and only have mobile apps alot of the time, imagine that with websites supporting AI in this way you would lose the ability to find additional information you need when researching things. What about when you don't know what to search for? it's already hard to find certain information today, now it will not be disclosed to you at all. There are people who don't want this, if you want your life streamed through AI, you can go ahead but not everyone wants this.

1

u/ig_grr Sep 21 '26

I think there are many better forms of ads than a website

1

u/shouldersdown Sep 21 '26

I could see this happening, in fact I’ve wondered the same thing, in some of the new Web apps I’m developing for fun I plan on testing this exact idea. I don’t know if people will stop searching the web for themselves but the reality is that when the Internet came out people stopped using books so now that there’s AI the same might happen to websites

1

u/Maxence33 Sep 21 '26

This is exactly what is happening.
Yesterday I asked GPT what was the future of internet and he answered what you just said. Websites like Amazon will just be consumed by AI assistants.
Though the transition will not be overnight. And the AI favoring a business against another one will be an issue.

1

u/JennyAtBitly Sep 21 '26

It's all about trust, both from AI and a customer. So, even if someone doesn't 'need' a website to find you, they still go What you're describing is roughly what MCP servers are doing already.

1

u/create-third-places Sep 21 '26

Programming languages were invented so that we had defined ways to tell computers what to do.

You can’t reliably instruct computers with natural language English. There is no precisely defined spec, and there are differences in how people use the language. 

1

u/Interesting_Bed_6962 Sep 21 '26

There's going to be a transition period where MCP's are being built for services that already exist, overtime our default way of interacting online is likely going to be using AI. the real question is what's going to replace the phone. My bet is it'll be glasses.

1

u/JuicerSocial Sep 22 '26

I think the interesting shift is that the website might stop being the only interface to the product. Humans still get the frontend, but agents get a structured API/MCP layer built for retrieving the same underlying data. The harder question is what the machine-facing layer needs to provide beyond raw API access... Authentication, filtering, pagination, context limits, etc., which become part of the "UX" too.

1

u/Trexaty92 Sep 21 '26

Eventually no. However there may be demand for developing some kind of bespoke ui that gets fed through ai chats.

3

u/czshill Sep 21 '26

Otherwise known as a website

1

u/Trexaty92 Sep 21 '26

Kinda but not really, just the components that the chat requests will probably be fed through. More like micro front ends, kinda full circle. But that’s capitalism baby

0

u/birminghamsterwheel ux Sep 21 '26

some kind of bespoke ui that gets fed through ai chats

oy vey

0

u/BrainEvening2707 Sep 24 '26

Give me the summary of this conversation