AI Bots To Overtake Human Internet Traffic By 2027, Says Cloudflare CEO

Internet traffic generated by automated bots is expected to surpass human activity by 2027, according to Matthew Prince, chief executive of Cloudflare.

Speaking at the SXSW conference in Austin, Prince said the rapid growth of generative artificial intelligence is significantly increasing the number of bots operating online.

He explained that AI-powered agents can visit far more websites than humans when completing tasks. For example, while a person may check a few websites before buying a product, an AI system could scan thousands of pages to gather information. This leads to a sharp rise in web traffic and puts additional pressure on internet infrastructure.

Prince noted that before the rise of generative AI, bots accounted for roughly 20 per cent of internet traffic. Much of this came from legitimate sources such as search engine crawlers, including those used by Google. Other bot activity was mainly linked to malicious actors.

However, the growing demand for data by AI systems is now driving a steady increase in automated traffic. Prince said this trend is unlikely to slow down and will continue to reshape how the internet is used.

He added that new technologies will be needed to manage this shift. One idea involves creating temporary digital environments, known as sandboxes, where AI agents can perform tasks such as planning trips or conducting research.

Prince also highlighted the need for stronger physical infrastructure, including data centres and servers, to handle the rising demand. He compared the current growth to the surge in internet usage during the Covid-19 pandemic, when platforms like YouTube and Netflix saw heavy traffic.

According to Prince, the difference now is that the increase is steady and ongoing, rather than temporary. He described artificial intelligence as a major platform shift that will change how people access and consume information online.