AI agent detection
Which AI agents we recognize
We periodically test each AI agent, both while it only reads a page and while it clicks and types, and we check what real sites see. Some agents (like Claude) are easy to detect because they declare who they are every time. Many others (Grok, Muse, Perplexity) don't declare themselves and look very much like regular browsers.
In short: This is what we can detect now, but it's changing very rapidly.
- Named AI agent, by name
- Agentic AI agent, not by name
- Bot automation, not seen as an AI agent
- Missed seen as a person
- Never reports runs no JavaScript, so out of reach
- Verified by Web Bot Auth signs its requests, and we check the signature against keys the vendor publishes
| Agent | Reading | Acting |
|---|---|---|
| Anthropic | ||
| Claude appThe desktop app's built-in browser | Named | Named |
| Claude in ChromeAnthropic's extension, in the person's own Chrome | Missed | Named |
| Claude DuetAnthropic's cloud browser. Its quick lookups are Claude-User fetches (below) | Named | Named |
| OpenAI | ||
| ChatGPT appThe desktop app's built-in browser | Named | Named |
| ChatGPT agentOpenAI's cloud browser (ChatGPT agent and Work) | Named | Named |
| ChatGPT in ChromeOpenAI's extension (formerly Codex for Chrome), in the person's own Chrome. The ChatGPT app also drives Chrome through it. | Missed | Named |
| Gemini in ChromeThe Gemini panel and auto browse, in the person's own Chrome | Missed | Named |
| GeminiIts Task mode (formerly Spark): Google's agent, in a browser in Google's cloud | Named | Named |
| Microsoft | ||
| Copilot in Edge"Browse with Copilot", in the person's own Edge | Named | Named |
| Perplexity | ||
| Perplexity CometThe Comet assistant and its Computer tasks, in the person's own Comet | Missed | Named |
| Perplexity ComputerPerplexity's Computer tasks, in a browser in Perplexity's cloud | Named | Named |
| Meta | ||
| Meta MuseA browser in Meta's cloud | Named | Named |
| xAI | ||
| GrokxAI's desktop app on Windows, browsing from xAI's cloud | Missed | Named |
| Spear Street Technology | ||
| InstinctA cloud computer for each person, run by text messages and calls | Named | Named |
| Fetchers, from several vendors | ||
| ChatGPT-User, Claude-User, Perplexity-UserFetches for a question someone asked | Never reports | n/a |
The name in your dataLayer
The code under each name is its agentId, the value your tag puts in the dataLayer (install guide). An AI agent we can tell is agentic but cannot name is unnamed-local-browser (in the person's own browser) or unnamed-webmcp (any other AI agent browser).
Reading only
An assistant that only summarizes a page already open in the person's own browser, as Copilot, Gemini, Comet and ChatGPT in Chrome can, changes nothing a site can see. To the site, it is that person reading.
Agents we haven't tested
An agent we have not tested is often still caught as automation, but it is called a bot until we recognize it. What counts as agentic.
What we miss
What Telltale Bot misses: visits it never sees, automation that can get through, and people it can mistake for automation.