Updated
Updated · Futurism · Jul 28
Cloudflare Says Bots Hit 57% of Web Traffic for First Time
Updated
Updated · Futurism · Jul 28

Cloudflare Says Bots Hit 57% of Web Traffic for First Time

1 articles · Updated · Futurism · Jul 28

Summary

  • 57% of webpage requests tracked by Cloudflare in June came from bots, the first time automated traffic has overtaken humans by the company’s measure.
  • 7,851% year over year growth in AI-agent traffic is a key driver, according to cybersecurity firm HUMAN, as businesses increasingly deploy bots for research, shopping and other web tasks.
  • Those agents strain websites differently from people—consuming server capacity without generating ad impressions that many publishers rely on for revenue.
  • More than half of new English-language articles were AI-assisted as of an October Graphite report, underscoring how automation is reshaping both web traffic and online content.

Insights

With bots now dominating web traffic, how will websites survive when their primary visitors no longer click on ads?
If AI agents are secretly extracting data, who actually profits from the internet's new machine-driven economy?