Cloudflare CEO says bots now make up more than half of internet traffic
In an interview with The Verge, Cloudflare cofounder and CEO Matthew Prince said the company found in June that bots accounted for more than half of internet traffic. He said the volume continues to grow as AI companies scrape more content and AI agents try to perform tasks on the web. Cloudflare sits between websites and those agents, giving owners the option to block the tools, allow them, or permit only those that might pay for access.
Prince also discussed AI’s impact inside Cloudflare. The company laid off more than 1,000 people — 20% of its workforce, according to The Verge — earlier this year, and he published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal about how he chose which employees to replace with AI. The interview also covered control over bots, their effects on the web and possible payment models for access.
Why it matters · editorial interpretation
Matthew Prince’s statement connects the rise of bots and agents to an economic dilemma for publishers: block access, allow it, or charge for it. The case also links this shift to decisions about replacing employees with AI within Cloudflare itself, according to the interview and the cited op-ed.