Should AI web agents skip sponsored/ad results by default?

AI agents are increasingly performing automated web research - browsing pages, following links, and sometimes clicking results as part of information gathering. There's a small but potentially significant side effect: these systems can end up clicking paid advertisements. Most online advertising runs on a pay-per-click (PPC) model. When a human clicks an ad, there's at least some level of commercial intent. When an AI agent clicks an ad during automated research, there's zero purchase intent - but the advertiser may still be charged. At the individual level this is negligible.