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Introducing NLWeb: Revolutionising the Internet with AI

NLWeb is Microsoft’s cutting-edge open project aimed at integrating artificial intelligence directly into the internet. Unveiled at the Build 2025 conference, NLWeb—short for Natural Language Web—imagines a future where every website can respond to natural language inquiries, transforming the static web into a lively, AI-enhanced environment.

Microsoft draws parallels between NLWeb’s impact and the advent of HTML, which made website development accessible to everyone. The company declared, “NLWeb is the fastest and easiest way to effectively turn your website into an AI app, allowing users to query the contents of the site by directly using natural language, just like with an AI assistant or Copilot.”

AI Chatbots and Model Context Protocols

Instead of traditional search functionalities, NLWeb aims to empower websites with AI-driven chatbot features. However, the project’s scope extends beyond just chatbots. Each website supported by NLWeb will function as a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, a universal standard created by Anthropic that connects AI systems to external data sources. Consequently, NLWeb-enabled sites will be accessible and crawlable by AI agents within the growing MCP ecosystem.

Seamless Data Interactions in a New Web Structure

The overarching ambition is to establish a groundbreaking web framework where AI agents can effortlessly retrieve information and carry out tasks autonomously. These tasks may include customer service, negotiations, and managing product returns. Microsoft noted, “Ultimately, we believe NLWeb can play a similar role to HTML in the emerging agentic web,” suggesting a more interactive and AI-friendly online environment.

NLWeb is designed to be technology-agnostic, accommodating all primary operating systems, AI models, and vector databases, as stated by the company. The initiative is led by RV Guha, Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President and Technical Fellow, who recently came onboard at the company.

Microsoft’s latest initiative forms part of a larger strategy to spearhead the next phase of web and AI integration, coinciding with the developer conference and an intensified focus on artificial intelligence opportunities.

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