Frequently asked questions

Short answers about the Agent Readiness Index, the score and the scan. Each answer stands on its own, so you can quote it.

What is the Agent Readiness Index?

The Agent Readiness Index is a free, public index by Encore AI. Enter an organization's web address and it scores, on a scale of 0 to 100, how ready that organization is for personal AI agents that act for customers. Every report lists the checks, the evidence and a fix for each gap.

What does AI agent readiness mean?

It means how well an organization works when a customer's AI agent, such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Perplexity, tries to do a job for them: find an answer, check an account, change a booking or call the phone line. A ready organization lets a declared agent read its pages, offers a documented way to connect such as an MCP server, and lets a customer approve limited, revocable access without sharing a password.

How is the readiness score calculated?

The score adds up six areas worth 100 points: Discoverability 15, Protocol access 20, Identity and delegation 20, Web experience 15, Voice and IVR 20, and Policy and governance 10. The five website areas come from published checks and are calibrated with one public curve. The voice area comes from recorded calls to the organization's published phone number.

What do the readiness levels mean?

There are six levels. Level 0, Closed: declared agents are blocked. Level 1, Tolerated: pages load, nothing is built for an agent. Level 2, Legible: an agent can read and cite the content. Level 3, Connectable: an agent can connect through an MCP server or a public API program. Level 4, Trusted: a customer can authorize an agent with limited, revocable access. Level 5, Native: agents are a supported channel on web, API and voice.

Does a scan cost anything, and how long does it take?

A scan is free. The website checks take about two minutes. The phone line tests run separately and are added to the report when they finish.

What does the scan read, and is it safe for my site?

The scan reads public pages and published technical files only, such as robots.txt, llms.txt, a sitemap and well known metadata. It identifies itself as an agent with a user agent that names Encore AI. It loads the sign in page to see how an agent is treated, but it never types into a field and never tries to sign in.

Which organizations are scored?

1,420 organizations are scored so far, across 25 kinds of business, among them large banks, insurers, airlines, retailers, telecom companies, health systems, software companies and restaurants. Anyone can scan another public website, and the new report is added to the index.

How can an organization raise its score?

Every report lists each gap with the evidence the scan found and a fix. The largest single check is a live MCP server, worth 8 points. Cheaper steps include publishing llms.txt, adding structured data, rendering content on the server, publishing a sitemap, allowing declared agents in robots.txt, and stating a clear position on AI agents in the terms.

More: How every check is scored, the research, for AI agents, or scan your own website.