Cloudflare's Prince: bots passed humans, now AI must pay

Matthew Prince had expected web traffic from automated bots and AI agents to surpass human traffic at the end of next year. Instead, it happened in May, with Cloudflare reporting almost 60% of requests to websites coming from bots. Cloudflare manages traffic for more than a fifth of the web and counts 80% of the top AI companies as customers, so its data offers a rare window into how much of the web is now machine-driven.

The "Disallow AI Training" setting arrives as Sony and Warner Music, news outlets and even major dictionary publishers pursue copyright suits against AI companies over intellectual property claims. Prince frames the problem as two-sided: compensation and recognition. He says the media world of the last 30 years rewarded popularity, while the next 30 might reward credibility, and he worries the industry has not thought enough about how to make sure people get recognized. He suggests there should be an Academy Award or Nobel Prize of knowledge.

Prince describes the world he is playing for as one with 500,000 AI companies rather than five. Whether the new setting changes actual payment flows likely hinges on how many AI companies follow Apple, Google and Microsoft in honoring it, and on whether courts back the publishers' claims.