AI agents won’t replace websites overnight, but we can finally see a clear path to how they become more important than traditional websites. We’ve just entered what I call Phase 1 of the AI agent rollout, and small business owners need to understand what’s coming.
The transformation will happen in three phases. Phase 1 features custom chatbots that can reliably answer questions and perform simple tasks. Phase 2 brings interconnected agents that communicate with each other using tools. Phase 3 sees full integration into major AI platforms like ChatGPT and Gemini, where AI models become the operating system for how people interact with businesses online.
If you run a business, now is the time to start preparing for this shift.
What Are AI Agents and Where We Stand Today (Phase 1)
Most AI agents today are essentially advanced chatbots that can use tools. Until recently, these chatbots were pretty terrible – you were often better off using generic ChatGPT than any proprietary solution.
But we’ve reached a turning point. You can now build a helpful chatbot that lives on your website, reliably answers questions about your brand, and performs simple actions on your behalf. This has been technically possible for a while, but developers and agencies have only recently figured out how to do it reliably at a reasonable price.
Current AI agents can:
- Answer frequently asked questions about products, services, and policies 24/7
- Guide users and provide personalized recommendations
- Complete basic transactions like bookings and orders
- Capture leads and schedule services automatically
- Provide round-the-clock customer support
Right now, I’m building these agents for some of my clients with developers who charge about $5,000 for a custom solution. This represents a massive improvement in both capability and affordability compared to just a year ago.
The Three Phases of AI Agent Evolution
Phase 1: Custom Chatbots on Your Website (Now)
We’re currently in Phase 1, where businesses deploy AI chatbots directly on their websites. These agents can handle most customer service inquiries and basic transactions, providing a much better user experience than forcing visitors to dig through multiple pages to find answers.
The key breakthrough is reliability. These bots now consistently represent your brand well and provide accurate information without the embarrassing mistakes that plagued earlier versions.
Phase 2: Interconnected Agents That Communicate
Phase 2 arrives when these bots become experts at using tools and talking to other AI agents. This is being enabled by Google’s Agent2Agent (A2A) protocol, similar to how Anthropic’s MCP protocol enabled tool use.
With A2A being widely adopted, all agents will be able to communicate with each other. At this point, you’ll still want your AI agent to live on your website, and people will still browse websites sometimes. However, you won’t be dependent on your website like you are now because customers will be able to do anything through your agent that they can do on your site.
Imagine a customer asking your agent to “return this product and schedule a pickup.” Your agent handles the return process, then communicates directly with the shipping company’s AI agent to arrange pickup – no human intervention required.
Phase 3: Full Integration Into Major AI Platforms
We’ll know we’re in Phase 3 when AI agents are fully integrated into major AI models like ChatGPT and Gemini. At this point, it will rarely make sense to visit someone’s website directly.
These AI models will serve as an operating system of sorts, connected to every brand’s agent the same way Google search currently connects to websites. It’ll be far more convenient to work with one AI assistant that can communicate with all other brand agents to get information and take actions online.
Will we still have websites? Probably, but they won’t be nearly as important as having a capable AI agent.
Why Businesses Need AI Agents Now
Every small business owner should have an agent before we reach Phase 2. Here’s why starting now gives you a significant advantage:
Establishing Presence in the AI Layer
Just like companies rushed to build websites in the 1990s and social media pages in the 2010s, forward-thinking businesses are now building AI agents. Statistics show that 99% of enterprise developers are exploring or developing AI agents as of 2025.
Waiting means playing catch-up while early adopters capture AI-driven customer interactions.
Immediate Business Benefits
AI agents provide measurable advantages right now:
- Cost-effective customer service: Resolving issues via chatbot costs only $0.50 per interaction versus $6.00 with a human rep
- 24/7 availability: 64% of consumers value round-the-clock service that chatbots provide
- Better user experience: Sites with chatbots see higher engagement and lower bounce rates
- SEO benefits: Improved user engagement metrics signal to search engines that your content is useful
Learning Curve Advantage
By starting now, you can train your AI, gather data, and refine capabilities ahead of competitors. Today’s agents aren’t perfect, which is exactly why you should start early and iterate. Over months and years, this leads to a battle-tested agent that truly understands your customers.
What This Means for Your Website
Your website won’t disappear, but its role will fundamentally change. Websites may evolve to cater less to human visitors and more to AI agents parsing their content. Just as sites optimized for search engine bots (SEO) in the past, they may optimize for AI assistant bots in the future – sometimes called “Generative AI Optimization.”
If AI assistants become the predominant way consumers engage with the web, direct traffic to websites could diminish. Your business’s AI agent presence might matter more than your website design.
However, visual browsing, rich media, and certain interactive experiences will still attract people to traditional sites. The key is ensuring your business information is easily accessible and trusted by major AI models.
How Much Does It Cost to Build an AI Agent?
The cost varies significantly based on complexity:
- Simple Q&A Chatbot: $5,000+ for basic functionality that answers FAQs and handles simple workflows
- Mid-Range Agent: $10,000-$50,000 for sophisticated chatbots with multiple integrations and larger knowledge bases
- Enterprise-Grade Agent: $75,000+ for advanced AI agents with cutting-edge capabilities and extensive tool use
Many providers also offer subscription models ($50-$500 per month for small businesses) rather than large upfront costs.
The good news? With off-the-shelf AI services emerging, the entry barrier for a decent AI agent is dropping rapidly, making it feasible for even modest businesses to deploy their own chatbot.
Custom AI Agents vs Generic Solutions
While you could use generic ChatGPT on your website, custom agents provide significant advantages:
Brand-Specific Knowledge
A custom agent trained on your company data provides accurate, authoritative answers about your business. Generic ChatGPT can produce realistic but entirely false responses in specialized contexts, while custom bots using curated company datasets give you full control over the knowledge base.
Consistent Brand Voice
Custom agents can be trained on your brand’s tone, knowledge base, and goals, effectively becoming an extension of your brand identity. Generic bots answer in a neutral, one-size-fits-all style that doesn’t match your brand personality.
Integration Capabilities
Custom agents can securely connect to your proprietary systems and databases, enabling personalized actions like checking order status or updating appointments. Generic AI models can’t access your private data without extensive customization.
The investment in customization pays off through better customer trust and more effective service, ultimately benefiting your brand’s reputation and efficiency.
Start Building Your AI Agent Now
We’re in the early phase of the AI agent revolution, comparable to the early days of websites or mobile apps. There’s a significant first-mover advantage for businesses that adopt AI agents sooner rather than later.
Consumer expectations are rapidly shifting toward instant, AI-powered service. 96% of people said that a company using chatbots shows they care about providing good support. Getting an AI agent early helps you meet these evolving expectations while demonstrating that your brand is innovative and responsive.
The question isn’t whether AI agents will become dominant – it’s whether your business will be ready when they do. Much like establishing a website in the early Internet days, getting an AI agent running early can yield outsized benefits and position you to thrive as the interaction paradigm shifts.
At TJ Digital, we help small to medium businesses prepare for this AI-driven future through custom AI optimization and strategic digital marketing that keeps you ahead of the curve. If you’re ready to explore how an AI agent could transform your customer interactions, let’s talk about building a solution that represents your brand perfectly and serves your customers better than ever before.