Overview
AI summaries and generative search experiences are beginning to reshape how people discover and consume information. In this evolving landscape, a term is gaining relevance for community professionals: AIgents (AI agents).
These tools are designed to act on behalf of users, using artificial intelligence to:
- Scan multiple sources
- Summarize answers
- Recommend content
All without the user needing to visit the original websites or communities where the information lives.
This shift has exciting implications for user efficiency—but raises critical concerns for community-led organizations and open-access communities.
What Are AIgents?
AIgents are a category of artificial intelligence tools or assistants that don’t just retrieve information, they perform tasks for users. For example:
- Summarizing long threads or discussions
- Answering user questions based on scraped web content
- Recommending next steps based on context
- Surfacing content without requiring a site visit
Essentially, they blur the line between search engine and task assistant…and that’s where the challenge starts for community professionals.
Why Should Community Teams Pay Attention?
As Shauna McClemens (Head of Vanilla Success) noted:
"AIgents boost efficiency but risk making community insights invisible. Attribution and visibility are big concerns."
Here’s what that means in practice:
🚫 Fewer Clicks to Community Sites
As AIgents deliver content summaries directly into chat windows, search result pages, and productivity tools, users may never click through to your site—even when your content is the source.
⚠️ No Attribution or Visibility
Many community platforms (especially those without structured SEO schemas) may not be properly credited as sources. Your most valuable answers could fuel AI summaries with no acknowledgment and no site traffic to show for it.
🧩 Communities Become Hidden Libraries
Without visibility and interaction, open communities risk turning into passive content archives—losing the collaborative, engaged nature that makes them powerful in the first place.
As Heather Wendt (Customer Education & Community Growth Strategist) reflected:
"If we don't figure this out, open communities are going to end up being less about engagement and more about hidden content libraries... which is the antithesis of why we have communities and not just webpages."
What Can You Do About It?
While this is still an emerging space, here are some early considerations and actions:
1. Strengthen Your Content Structure
- Use structured headings, metadata, and clear markup to increase discoverability and attribution potential.
- Break down long discussions into digestible, optimized knowledge base articles or FAQ posts.
2. Repurpose Community Insights Internally
- Don’t rely solely on organic discovery. Highlight great community content in newsletters, in-app tips, support articles, and customer onboarding journeys.
3. Engage in the Conversation
- Talk with your peers! How are other community teams adapting to this shift? What’s working, and where are they seeing friction?
- Bring questions and ideas to the Vanilla Success Community and tag relevant discussions (e.g., AI, engagement, search, strategy).
Let’s Keep the Conversation Going
This isn’t just a technical shift—it’s a strategic one. Community-led organizations need to advocate for visibility, rethink engagement strategies, and evolve with these new behaviors in mind.
We want to hear from you:
- Have you seen signs of AIgents reshaping your content traffic or search behavior?
- How are you preparing for increased AI reuse of community content?
- Should we be concerned, or is this a chance to rethink how we present value?
Join the discussion in Vanilla Success → AIgents : What They Are, and Why Community Pro's Should Care
Let’s dig in together—before the valuable insights found in our communities become invisible.