Your first-party data is the ultimate defence against AI browsers

The fundamental architecture of how we interact with the internet is shifting. We are moving from an era of passive viewing, where we manually scroll, click, and compare, to one of proactive execution. The cause of this change is new "agentic browsers," such as OpenAI's Atlas and Perplexity's Comet. These tools are designed not just to show you information, but to act on your behalf.

But the flashy features and grand promises disguise a calculated and necessary strategic move. The ultimate ambition is not to build a better browser, but to become the next dominant platform—the new gatekeeper for our entire digital lives. It’s clear their end goal is to be the next Apple, controlling the hardware, the OS, and the ecosystem, and thereby the entire experience.

This new objective isn't just a high-level concern for tech giants. It creates a significant, immediate strategic risk for B2B businesses. This new technology threatens to become the ultimate disintermediator, placing an AI-controlled layer between you and your customer. The entire conflict lands, as it always does, back at the fundamental question of who controls the data and who owns the audience.

The browser as a strategic workaround

This ambition for total platform control is currently impossible to achieve in our mobile-dominated lives. Apple and Google control the dominant platforms, and Apple in particular profits immensely from its locked-down App Store. It will almost certainly never grant a third-party app the deep, system-level permissions needed to cede that control to a competitor.

Blocked by the platforms that matter, AI's only viable path to the user is through the last (and the original) open front: the web browser.

By convincing you to use their browser, AI companies gain three advantages they cannot get as an app: they see everything you do online (full context); they own the place you start your journey (user lock-in); and they gain a "disguise." An agentic browser, by its nature, uses your own computer, IP address, and login credentials, making its activity indistinguishable from your own.

The arms race for data control

This "disguise" is precisely why the web's incumbents are retaliating. Before even concluding the conflict of past data scraping for training, we’re now witnessing a fight over present-day autonomous interaction with live websites. Such is the speed disparity between technological advancement and legal remedies.

A key legal battle is Amazon v. Perplexity AI. Amazon accuses Perplexity of violating its Terms of Service, claiming its agent "purposely configured" itself to mimic a human user, a move Amazon calls "computer fraud." Perplexity’s defence is that an agent is simply an extension of the user, who is allowed access. If a court accepts this argument, any website's "no bots" policy could become unenforceable.

This legal fight is mirrored by a technical one. The 30-year-old robots.txt "gentleman's agreement" is at the centre of this conflict. Major publishers like The New York Times and Amazon have updated theirs to block AI crawlers. But this protocol was built for server-side crawlers, not for client-side agents that, as the Amazon lawsuit alleges, can be configured to simply bypass it.

The core issue is disintermediation. E-commerce platforms and service companies are concerned about agents that can browse all stores, find the best price, and complete the checkout, bypassing their ad-funded ecosystems entirely.

Their response is two-pronged:

• Defend: Block and sue external agents where possible.

• Control: Build and promote their own proprietary agents, like Amazon's "Rufus" and Shopify's "Sidekick."

This points to a significant risk for the open web. We may be heading towards a more fragmented, "walled garden" future, where open access is replaced by competing, permission-based systems. These browsers could become the ultimate, opaque gatekeepers, algorithmically choosing winners and losers. We are already seeing this: OpenAI’s Atlas has reportedly avoided linking to The New York Times, one of its current legal opponents.

Protecting your B2B business from disintermediation  

For B2B businesses, this new platform conflict provides a clear takeaway. You cannot build your future on rented land. Whether the gatekeeper is Apple, Google, or (in the future) OpenAI, relying on them for access to your customers is a significant risk.

The rise of agents that can disintermediate the customer relationship at any moment makes one thing clear: the need to build a defensible position.

While companies with real-world logistics, like Uber, can respond by becoming an essential "API" for agents, most B2B businesses do not have this luxury. Your defence must be built on the one thing you can own and control: your direct relationship with your audience.

Your primary investment must be in your first-party data. You must focus on building your database of customers, prospects, and subscribers. This data is the foundation for a durable defence: customer loyalty.

An agent can be programmed to find the lowest price or the fastest delivery. It cannot (yet) be programmed to replicate the trust, authority, and value you build through consistent, helpful, and direct engagement. Your email list, your webinars, your insightful content, and your human-led customer service are no longer just marketing channels. They are important strategic assets.

The agentic browser is the current frontline in this push for platform dominance. While the titans fight to own the user, your goal must be to build an audience that chooses to come to you directly, no matter what agent or browser they happen to be using.