Can Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince save the web from AI?
Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince says AI bots exceed half of web traffic and discusses pay-for-access controls.
The Verge's Decoder podcast interviews Cloudflare cofounder and CEO Matthew Prince about AI bots and the web's business model. Cloudflare reported in June that bots made up more than half of internet traffic as AI companies scrape sites and agents act for users. Prince says site owners can block those tools, allow them, or permit only bots that pay for access. He also discusses laying off more than 1,000 people, about 20 percent of the company, and a Wall Street Journal op-ed on replacing employees with AI.
- Cloudflare measured bots as more than half of internet traffic in June.
- Owners can block AI tools, allow them, or admit only bots that pay.
- Cloudflare cut more than 1,000 jobs, about 20 percent of staff.
- Prince says advertising-led web growth is shifting as agents replace human visitors.
- Vendors
- Cloudflare
- Organizations
- CloudflareGoogle
From the original article
16 min read at theverge.com
Today, I’m talking with Matthew Prince, who is CEO of Cloudflare. This episode is part of a two-part series on the future of business. Matthew last joined us on the show about two and a half years ago, at what we thought then was a wild pivot point for the internet — and now it turns out things are even wilder because of AI, and Matthew and Cloudflare are right at the center of it.
By Nilay Patel · theverge.com
A short excerpt; the article and its images belong to the publisher. Summary, key facts and assessment above are AI-written from the article and can be wrong.