AI agents and other bots now generate about 57% of web requests, according to data from Cloudflare. According to Cloudflare's CEO Matthew Prince, who had predicted that bots would surpass humans by the end of 2027, this moment arrived in May.
Companies managing content delivery networks are benefiting from the rise in automated requests. According to CNBC, Jim Cramer claims that the growing traffic supports demand for these services. Shares of internet infrastructure companies are rising: Cloudflare has increased by 121% since its February low, Akamai has gained 51% since November, and Fastly has risen 159% since the beginning of the year. A key event for Akamai was the announcement of a seven-year contract worth $11.6 billion with Anthropic on September 24. The agreement covers CPU computing tasks and gives Anthropic a warrant to purchase up to 5% of Akamai's shares. Shares jumped 16% the next day but then lost that gain and more. Akamai expects its revenue forecast for 2026 to remain unchanged, although it plans to spend an additional $1.7 billion on components such as memory.
Jim Cramer described Akamai's shares as inexpensive with a ratio of less than 16 to expected earnings. In comparison, Cloudflare is valued at 279 times earnings, and Fastly at more than 50. Goldman Sachs strategist Peter Oppenheimer warned of a revenue bubble in technology, pointing to rising borrowings and AI expenses outpacing cash flows. Matthew Prince stated that AI companies should pay for the content that their robots collect. On September 15, Cloudflare launched a setting allowing websites to opt out of AI training while maintaining search presence. Apple and Google already consider this opt-out, and Microsoft plans to support it in early 2027. Prince predicts that in five years, automated traffic could reach a thousand times that of humans.
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