Microsoft is launching an open project called NLWEB as part of its efforts to make AI-powered chatbots on the web more simple.
Announced at Build 2025, NLWEB can provide a “conversation interface” on its website, i.e. a text field and a submit button. Retailers can use NLWEB to create chatbots that help users select clothing for a particular trip. For example, cooking sites can use it to build bots that suggest dishes to pair with recipes.
Web pages built using NLWEB can optionally make content discoverable and accessible by AI platforms that support MCP, the human standard for connecting AI models to systems in which data resides.
“(w)e Believe (NLWeb) can play a similar role in the HTML of Agent Web,” Microsoft wrote in a press document provided to TechCrunch. “(It) allows users to interact directly with web content in a rich, semantic way.”
Microsoft didn’t say either way, but NLWEB may have its origins in the technology of Microsoft’s close collaborator, ChatGpt Maker Openai.
This information reported last November that Openai was working with partners such as Condé Nast, Redfin, Eventbrite and Priceline on early versions of NLWEB. At the time, Openai was pitching technology as a way for brands to bring conversational features like ChatGpt to their websites, but the project faced some delays due to technical hurdles.
A few months later, it appears NLWEB is ready for prime time.