Notices by Richard MacManus (ricmac@mastodon.social)

Some of you old webheads might enjoy my latest post on Latent Space. It turns out the Semantic Web is alive and well, in the form of ontologies being used to keep LLMs honest. https://www.latent.space/p/ontologies-agentic-systems

This week's Agentic Web News covers the rise of the agentic web as a concept, browsers integrated into the agentic tools of OpenAI and Anthropic, real momentum for the WebMCP protocol, plus further agentic commerce and web development news. https://agenticweb.news/browsers-in-agents-webmcp-momentum/ #AgenticWeb

@dansup @tchambers I read this nodding, because it’s the exact same experience I have as an indie media operator — it’s so hard getting anything new off the ground these days.

A ‘semantic Flash’-like future for the human web? Interesting thoughts here…

“The future of the web will likely become more semantic, more structured, and more machine-readable than ever before.

But HTML-in-canvas may allow it to become more expressive than ever, too.”

https://www.jonoalderson.com/conjecture/weirdly-human/

What a treat, and looking forward to a new Zeldman.com design soon! #WebDesignHistory https://front-end.social/@zeldman/116697563568403895

Who owns that AI agent?

In my latest Agentic Web News post, I look at DNSid, a project from Innovation Labs / Identity Digital that aims to provide a DNS-based accountability layer for AI agents.

The bigger question: will agent identity become part of the open web's shared infrastructure, or another layer controlled by the largest AI and cloud platforms?

https://agenticweb.news/who-owns-ai-agent-dnsid/ #AgenticWeb #Identity

"If I were building a website tomorrow, or building a SaaS app tomorrow, I would probably build it MCP-first, because that’s how agents increasingly want to consume this."

A quote from my interview with Alex Salazar, CEO of Arcade — which is building an "actions runtime" (a.k.a. middleware for agents).

https://agenticweb.news/arcade-actions-runtime-mcp-agentic-web/ #AgenticWeb

"Hey...let's be careful out there." Prompted by the immortal words of Sgt. Phil Esterhaus on Hill Street Blues, I look at two lessons from RunSignup’s careful AI rollout:

1. Embed AI where users already work.
2. Move fast — but safely.

I also reflect on some of the negative feedback about agentic AI this week — including continued layoffs in our industry and a lack of user trust in AI.

https://ricmac.org/2026/05/29/agentic-ai-business-lessons/ #AI #AgenticWeb

RE: https://mastodon.social/@wearenew_public/116642828899031769

This presentation is very thought-provoking, and has some potential solutions for how the open social web can safely use AI. (h/t @tchambers)

@jaredwhite @tchambers You are well within your rights to boycott agentic systems, but the fact is they are being built on the web — the W3C is active in this area and Tim Berners-Lee mentions his vision for agents in his recent memoir (and is focused on it in his current work). It’s ok that you and others don’t want a bar of it Jared, but don’t ascribe bad intentions to those of us who are interested in this development.

Automattic’s Head of AI, James LePage, is leaving to start something new: “In my opinion, (good) brand, legacy, taste and distribution matter more in an era when code is effectively free, and there’s a real reason to defend the concept of the Open Web, while building what’s next – which to me, is the Agentic Web.”
https://j.cv/closing-a-chapter/ #AI #AgenticWeb

I've just relaunched my Ghost blog as Agentic Web News: signals, interviews and analysis on the next phase of the web.

Previously it was Web Technology News, but I've narrowed my focus — and I'm hoping to turn it into a subscription newsletter over time. Do check it out if you're interested in this subject: https://agenticweb.news/welcome-to-agentic-web-news/ #AI #AgenticWeb

p.s. because I changed the domain, there is a Ghost bug preventing the social web syndication from working. But the Ghost team is working on it!

I know y’all are skeptical about AI, but I want to highlight this extract from my post. The open web is key!

“Some would argue the web should remain solely human-made — I'm thinking here of my fellow open social web fans on Mastodon and Bluesky. But I have to say I'm a pragmatist about this: the agentic web is here already, so we humans have to adapt. More than that: I think we can harness (to use a trendy term) agentic tools to keep the web open and ensure that it continues to serve humanity.”

Now they’ve discovered external style sheets.

Curious find of the day: the AI community on X has seemingly re-discovered the World Wide Web, in that it now favours HTML over Markdown for “agents to communicate with us”: https://x.com/trq212/status/2052809885763747935?s=43 #AI #WhatGoesAroundComesAround

The Museum of the Human Web: "a hybrid physical and digital museum celebrating the history of the human-built web." https://museum.parallel.ai/

This was created by Parallel Web Systems, the VC-funded company co-founded by Parag Agrawal, the former CEO of Twitter. They partnered with @internetarchive & the Computer History Museum on this.

Hmm, can I get these guys to sponsor Cybercultural.com? ;) It doesn't get more human-built than that.

AX was the new DX. Now it’s becoming the new UX.

In my latest post, I explore how "agent experience" has morphed beyond "developer experience" and become a branch of "user experience". https://ricmac.org/2026/05/05/agent-experience-new-ux/ #AgenticWeb #AI

Oh no, Jeeves has joined me (and tens of thousands of others) on the redundancy pile.

“As IAC continues to sharpen its focus, we have made the decision to discontinue our search business, which includes Ask.com. After 25 years of answering the world’s questions, Ask.com officially closed on May 1, 2026.” https://fossforce.com/2026/05/ask-com-goes-to-the-great-beyond/

What is the agentic web?

I’ve published a new post defining the term and placing it in the broader history of the web:

Read web → Read/write web → Platform web → Agentic web

My core argument is that websites are not disappearing. They still matter, especially because the web is fundamentally a human construct. But their role is expanding, because (like it or not) AI agents will increasingly be used by people to access and interact with websites. https://ricmac.org/2026/05/08/what-is-the-agentic-web/ #AI #AgenticWeb

@evan @tchambers @_followback Ah, I didn’t know about the followback bot; have done that now.