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Cloudflare chief warns AI agents could overwhelm websites and raise costs
Cloudflare chief executive Matthew Prince says the PHP2SHELL vulnerability may have been exploited by criminals or state-backed hackers before it was disclosed, and warned that security threats are worsening. He also said some website operators see AI agents as a burden because they can impose costs on sites without generating customers, while arguing that conventional container systems may struggle to handle the expected volume of agent traffic.
Prince cited Cloudflare’s forecast that bot traffic could eventually outnumber human clicks by 1,000 to one. He said about five per cent of the web had opted into the company’s content protection products since 1 July, and named Meta as a customer. Cloudflare reported record quarterly revenue of $782.5 million, up 39 per cent year on year, and its shares rose around 15 per cent in after-hours trading.
In short
- Cloudflare warns AI agents can burden websites without bringing business.
- Prince says security vulnerabilities may have been exploited before disclosure.
- Quarterly revenue reached $782.5 million, up 39 per cent year on year.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
AI agents may bring more automated requests than today’s infrastructure can handle, increasing hosting, bandwidth and security costs for website operators without bringing corresponding customers or revenue. Operators could reasonably seek controls over access to their content, while investment in more scalable systems may be needed to keep websites reliable as agent traffic grows.
The case against
AI agents can help people find, compare and use information, potentially directing audiences and business to the sites they visit; restricting them too broadly could limit those benefits and reduce access to online content. The scale of the projected traffic and the costs it creates remain uncertain, and better infrastructure or commercial arrangements could address the burden without treating agents as inherently harmful.
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Originally published by The Register as “AI agents are a ‘bane’ for some website operators, says Cloudflare”.