Rethinking AEO when software agents navigate the web on behalf of users

For more than two decades, digital businesses have relied on a simple assumption: When someone interacts with a website, that activity reflects a human making a conscious choice. Clicks are treated as signals of interest. Time on page is assumed to indicate engagement. Movement through a funnel is interpreted as intent. Entire growth strategies, marketing budgets, and product decisions have been built on this premise.Today, that assumption is quietly beginning to erode.As AI-powered tools increasingly interact with the web on behalf of users, many of the signals organizations depend on are becoming harder to interpret. The data itself is still accurate — pages are viewed, buttons are clicked, actions are recorded — but the meaning behind those actions is changing. This shift isn’t theoreti