| > That said, I think it’s reasonable for app developers to decide how their services are consumed But it's a far step from that to (attempting to) control the user agent, or only allow blessed clients/devices. Of course the site operator is concerned with limiting and preventing abuse by malicious users and agents, and an app developer should build for enabling that. > Main thing I care about is that AI agent use remains safe and aligned with user intent Nice and all. Keep a level perspective though: At scale, you can't keep control of your users not getting scammed/phished/hacked, or plain doing destructive uninformed actions on their own accord. Similar here: If you aim for 0, that will be to detriment to (at best, I believe) your growth. I believe the kind of patterns you describe in the article are in fact anti-patterns. Look at the kind of web and internet they lead to. Look at what they do to individual agency in society. Across the board, abuse is increasing alongside negative side-effects from false positives of these kinds of counter-measures - which will invariably end up abused (by ignorance or intentionally) to exclude an increasing number of "undesireds". Systematic discrimimation is an apt term for the emergent consistent blocking of certain groups and individuals even if "it's just the stats playing out that way"? Consider accessibility, and the diversity of humans. It is a folly to believe you can craft a singular user-experience that works satisfactory for everyone, or even catalogue and "officially support" what's in need by your entire target audience. By blocking access to screen readers and other accessibility agents you limit or prevent the use from those relying on these tools. > My idealistic long-term view though is that supporting AI agent use cases will eventually become table stakes. My optimistic long-term view is that accessing content on my own terms with an agent I compiled myself is still an option (without any need for dystopian centralized signing services a la apple/mozilla), and that companies are still legally allowed to offer that option. |