Website is your first agent
The article argues that as AI agents increasingly evaluate professional capabilities, individuals and brands must present structured, machine-readable data on their websites rather than relying on human-optimized content like portfolios or LinkedIn profiles. Traditional web presences focused on visual appeal and narrative are ineffective for agents that require typed content, explicit relationships, and queryable data. The shift toward agent-mediated discovery means that legibility to machines will determine visibility and selection in the future.
- ▪AI agents evaluate professional capabilities by reading structured data from personal domains, not LinkedIn or PDF portfolios.
- ▪Effective agent-readable websites include typed content, explicit intellectual relationships, multiple machine-readable formats, and queryable databases.
- ▪Most current professional identities are unstructured narratives that provide little actionable information to automated agents.
- ▪The legibility of one's knowledge and track record to machines will significantly impact discoverability and selection in coming years.
- ▪Different agents require different data formats, such as llms.txt, graph.json, or SQL endpoints, to process and evaluate expertise.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
A question that seems minor but probably isn’t: when an agent is dispatched to evaluate whether someone can do a specific kind of work, what does it read? Not your LinkedIn. LinkedIn is optimized for a feed algorithm, not for structured evaluation. Not your portfolio PDF. No agent is parsing a PDF designed for a human recruiter’s fifteen-second scan. The agent reads whatever structured data it can find at your domain. If that data is a WordPress theme with a hero image and a hamburger menu, the agent extracts almost nothing. If that data is a capability manifest with typed relationships, queryable content, and verifiable claims — the agent has something to work with.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Ned Karlovich.
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