As a part of an effort to make constructing AI-powered chatbots on the internet easier, Microsoft is launching an open mission referred to as NLWeb.
Introduced at Construct 2025, NLWeb lets web sites present a “conversational interface” — i.e. a textual content discipline and a submission button — for his or her customers with just a few traces of code, the AI mannequin of their selection, and their very own information. A retailer may use NLWeb to create a chatbot that helps customers select clothes for particular journeys, for instance, whereas a cooking web site may use it to construct a bot that implies dishes to pair with a recipe.
Webpages constructed utilizing NLWeb can optionally make their content material discoverable and accessible to AI platforms that help MCP, Anthropic’s normal for connecting AI fashions to the methods the place information resides.
“[W]e imagine [NLWeb] can play an analogous position to HTML for the agentic net,” writes Microsoft in press supplies offered to TechCrunch. “[It] permits customers to work together instantly with net content material in a wealthy, semantic method.”
Microsoft didn’t say both approach, however NLWeb could have its origins in tech from ChatGPT maker OpenAI, Microsoft’s shut collaborator.
The Data reported final November that OpenAI was working with companions together with Condé Nast, Redfin, Eventbrite, and Priceline on an early model of NLWeb. Again then, OpenAI was pitching the tech as a approach for manufacturers to convey ChatGPT-like conversational options to their web sites, however the mission confronted a number of delays attributable to technical hurdles.
Months later, it appears NLWeb is prepared for prime time — albeit maybe in a distinct type than OpenAI initially envisioned.