Cloudflare’s Prince: Bots Could Make 1,000x More Web Traffic Than Humans in 5 Years
Cloudflare chief executive Matthew Prince told The Verge that bots could generate 1,000 times more web traffic than humans within five years. He proposed that AI agents pay for their online activities.
Bot Traffic Growth Exceeds Expectations
Prince made the prediction on Nilay Patel’s Decoder podcast, noting that his previous estimates regarding bot traffic had been incorrect as bots grew faster than anticipated. Initially, he predicted automated traffic would surpass human traffic in the second half of 2027, but Cloudflare's data indicated this milestone was reached by the first half of 2027, and his team confirmed it had already happened by May.
"Five years from now, we think that automated traffic will be 1,000 times human traffic online," Prince stated.
Shift in Web Business Model
Prince argued that the traditional web business model based on advertising is ineffective for bots. He explained that bots don't interact with ads, leading to a need for alternative revenue streams. Cloudflare is collaborating with Coinbase and Stripe to revive HTTP 402, a "payment required" code from the early days of the web. This would enable site owners to charge AI agents a small amount per page accessed, with valuable content potentially carrying a higher cost.
Blocking Google by Default
Starting September 15, Cloudflare set its free customers' default setting to block Google from using their sites for AI training. Site owners can opt out of this blocking. Prince stated that if Google cannot differentiate between AI training and search engine training, Cloudflare will block them entirely. He mentioned Google's commitment to providing more transparency about its crawler, which publishers could use to make informed decisions.
AI Licensing as a Revenue Stream
Prince and his wife own the Park Record, a local newspaper in Park City, Utah, and he expects it to generate more revenue from AI licensing deals than digital advertising this year. He compared Reddit's earnings per token with those of The New York Times, noting that Reddit earns seven to 14 times more.