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Automated systems now generate more internet traffic than human users for the first time, according to new data shared by cybersecurity and internet infrastructure company Cloudflare. The finding was highlighted by the company’s chief executive, Matthew Prince, who said the internet has reached a major turning point as AI-powered agents rapidly increase their presence online. The development comes earlier than he had previously expected and signals a significant change in how the web is being used. In a post on X, Prince said “agentic traffic” is growing at such a fast pace that bots now account for the majority of internet activity. He noted that he had earlier predicted automated traffic would overtake human activity in 2027, but the shift has happened much sooner than anticipated.

New era of internet activity begins

According to Cloudflare’s latest figures, bots are now responsible for 57.5 per cent of HTTP requests across the internet, while human users generate the remaining 42.5 per cent. Although Prince acknowledged that identifying the exact moment bots surpassed humans is difficult because of the complexity of the data, he said the internet is now “clearly on the other side”.

The rise is being driven largely by a new generation of AI-powered agents rather than traditional web crawlers or spam bots. These advanced systems can browse websites in ways that closely resemble human behaviour and are increasingly being used to complete tasks on behalf of users.

AI agents changing how people use the web

Cloudflare said AI agents are capable of reading product pages, comparing prices, searching for flights, researching purchases, ordering food, handling customer-service queries and gathering information for AI models. To better understand this growing trend, the company tracks visitors through categories such as verified bots and signed agents, allowing it to distinguish them from other forms of automated traffic.

Despite the surge in bot-generated requests, Cloudflare stressed that humans remain the primary consumers of online content. Activities such as watching videos, using mobile apps, scrolling through social media platforms and spending time on websites do not generate the same volume of rapid requests as AI systems.

Humans still spend more time online

As a result, people still account for most of the time spent on the internet even though bots now create more web requests overall. Cloudflare’s country-level analysis also revealed that Gibraltar had the highest share of bot traffic at 92.1 per cent, followed by Singapore and Iran, both recording 76.4 per cent. The data highlights how AI agents are rapidly reshaping internet activity across the world.

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