DEV Community
•
2026-04-09 07:12
The Evolution of GUI Agents: From RPA Scripts to AI That Sees Your Screen
In 2020, if you wanted to automate a desktop app, you'd write an RPA script — record mouse movements, hardcode coordinates, and pray the UI never changed.
In 2024, if you wanted an AI to operate a browser, you'd use a CDP-based agent — one that reads the DOM, parses HTML, and executes tasks inside Chrome.
In 2026, there's a model that looks at a screenshot, understands the interface, and clicks,...