AI browsers, such as Perplexity’s Comet and OpenAI’s (already sunsetted) Atlas, promised to reinvent how consumers navigate the internet, yet these dedicated AI browsers have struggled to achieve mainstream adoption. Forrester’s July 2026 survey of its ConsumerVoices Market Research Online Community found that only 8% of respondents use AI browsers often while 61% never use them.
AI browsers’ difficulty in overcoming established browser habits, and Google Chrome’s dominance, confirmed the simple truth that consumers don’t want or need another browser. Mainstream web browsers have years of accumulated consumer trust and usage momentum behind them. They hold bookmarks, passwords, payment information, and other elements that make switching inconvenient. And AI features alone don’t offer a compelling reason to defect. Only 19% of consumers would consider changing their primary browser for more robust AI features, and security and privacy features are perceived as far more compelling.
Their Lessons Live On
AI browsers were always an ambitious idea that faced an uphill battle, but their failure is more than a footnote in the history of browsers or AI. The market can learn from this experiment because AI browsers contributed to the ongoing evolution of AI-mediated customer journeys:
- The underlying capabilities pioneered by AI browsers will persist and manifest within the search engines, browsers, answer engines, and other digital experiences that consumers already use.
- Traditional browsers (e.g., Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Apple Safari) will increasingly add AI functionality. Dedicated AI browsers couldn’t win market share, but it doesn’t mean that browsers with AI are dead.
Reimagine Channel Strategy For Machine Audiences
Beyond the browser itself, AI is beginning to mediate product discovery, comparison, and purchase, shifting the fundamental assumption behind digital marketing and e-commerce: that consumers eventually arrive at your website. Discovery and comparison will increasingly occur inside environments the brand doesn’t control as more of the prepurchase funnel shifts to nonowned channels like answer engines. Simultaneously, personal AI agents will shop on customers’ behalf.
To stay ahead:
- Make brand and product information easy for answer engines and buyer agents to retrieve, interpret, trust, and cite. That requires expanding the definition of “audience” to incorporate the AI systems that recommend products and facilitate purchases.
- Evaluate whether agent-mediated discovery and selling is a fit with customers, products, and the brand. Consider agentic commerce as an emerging digital channel that deserves the same strategic discipline, merchandising, and engagement in the mix alongside established channels.
- Focus on product and other content that answers application questions, rather than just listing attributes. Begin to build toward embedded, conversational experiences in your owned channels to increase stickiness when customers do make it to your site.
Dedicated AI browsers may prove to be a short chapter in digital history. Their larger impact could be showing marketers what comes next: AI-powered customer journeys in which machines play an increasingly important role between intent and purchase.
Read the full research for our analysis and recommendations. To discuss what the agentic economy means for your organization, request a guidance session.
