Lisbon: Automated web traffic has overtaken human-generated internet traffic on Cloudflare’s network, according to the company, marking a significant shift in how the internet is being used.
Speaking at Web Summit Lisbon 2026, Cloudflare Co-founder and CEO Matthew Prince said the milestone was reached in May 2026, much earlier than the company’s previous estimates.
He also predicted that automated traffic could become 1,000 times greater than human traffic within the next five years as AI agents increasingly perform online tasks on behalf of people.
Prince said Cloudflare had initially expected automated traffic, particularly traffic generated by AI agents, to surpass human traffic during the first half of 2027.
However, the transition happened in May 2026, highlighting how quickly autonomous AI systems are changing internet activity.
The development signals a major change in the internet’s traffic composition, with websites and online businesses increasingly having to account for AI agents that browse, interact with platforms and potentially make purchasing decisions on behalf of their users.
During a panel discussion on the transition from AI hype to real-world adoption, Prince was joined by Lovable Co-founder and CEO Anton Osika and Recursive Co-founder and CEO Richard Socher. The discussion was moderated by CNBC Senior Technology Correspondent Arjun Kharpal.
Automated Web Traffic Overtakes Human Traffic Ahead of Schedule
Prince believes this is only the beginning of a much larger transition as individuals and businesses increasingly rely on multiple AI agents to perform tasks.
He expects every knowledge worker to eventually have several agents working on their behalf continuously, effectively operating around the clock.
“What’s crazy is, again – I think it’s exactly right that every single person in this audience, every knowledge worker on the planet, is going to have multiple agents working on their behalf 24/7, 365.”
According to the Cloudflare CEO, the scale of automated activity could increase dramatically over the coming years.
“In fact, I’d take the under on that bet. Humans are going to be a rounding error online, and we’re going to increasingly be designing the internet in order to be – how do we service the agents which service us all.”
His prediction suggests that Automated Web Traffic could eventually reach 1,000 times the volume of human-generated traffic within approximately five years.
AI Agents Could Change How Websites and Businesses Operate
The growth of Automated Web Traffic raises questions about how businesses will need to adapt their websites, advertising strategies and payment systems.
During the discussion, moderator Arjun Kharpal asked Osika how businesses built using Lovable should prepare for a future in which AI agents increasingly visit websites and potentially make purchasing decisions.
Osika believes AI agents will play a growing role in making buying decisions on behalf of their human users.
According to him, these agents are likely to make more rational decisions and be less influenced by emotional preferences or brand associations.
“I think to some extent agents are going to make buying decisions for their human overlord, right? And that means that agents are going to be more like rational and less driven by the emotion of ‘this is what I want to be associated with’.”
However, Osika does not believe human preferences and storytelling will become irrelevant.
He argued that people’s values will continue to influence what they choose to buy, while AI agents will increasingly help execute those decisions.
“And that the storytelling part of what you want to sell is going to remain. And the agents are more going to be like this oiling of the machine of what the humans want to achieve in the universe, on our planet Earth.”
Osika also believes that building products and services for AI agents could become an attractive opportunity for entrepreneurs.
Cloudflare CEO Warns AI Agents Could Put Small Businesses at a Disadvantage
While AI agents could make online transactions more efficient, Prince warned that their growing influence could create challenges for startups and small businesses.
He explained that consumers often choose smaller businesses for reasons that go beyond price and convenience.
For instance, customers may visit a neighbourhood dry cleaner because it is on their way home or continue buying from a local deli because they have a personal relationship with the owner.
AI agents, however, may not consider these emotional connections when comparing businesses.
Prince pointed out that AI agents effectively have unlimited time and patience to evaluate available options and identify what they consider the best decision.
This could result in agents favouring established companies over newer businesses and startups.
He said this could become a significant challenge for smaller companies trying to attract customers in an increasingly automated economy.
The Cloudflare CEO said the industry needs to ensure that smaller businesses and new entrants can compete in the emerging agentic economy.
Otherwise, the growing influence of AI agents could accelerate market consolidation, leaving a handful of established companies with greater control.
“The future that I’m playing for is one where there aren’t five AI companies, there are 500,000. One where there aren’t just a tiny number of media companies, but anyone can be a storyteller, anyone can make a living being someone who’s a content creator. And one where it’s not just a small number of incumbents that win over the long term, but any business large or small can compete and win in this agentic economy.”
AI Tools Could Trigger Another Wave of Internet Growth
Prince also connected the rise of AI-powered creation tools with a potential expansion in the number of websites and online businesses.
According to him, the web as a whole shrank between 2012 and the middle of 2025, with more websites disappearing than being created.
However, the trend reversed around July 2025, when the web started growing again at rates not seen since the early 2000s.
Prince attributed this change partly to tools that allow people without advanced technical skills to create websites, develop products and start businesses.
He specifically mentioned Lovable, Replit and Base44 as platforms enabling more people to participate in the digital economy.
He argued that technology is most valuable when it allows people to become creators, storytellers and entrepreneurs.
Rather than dismissing the resulting increase in online content as low-quality material, Prince said the company was seeing people use these tools to pursue ideas and projects they previously lacked the technical capabilities to execute.
Lovable CEO Anton Osika also expects AI tools to trigger a new wave of entrepreneurship by reducing the cost of starting and operating businesses.
He said Lovable was founded to address the barriers faced by ambitious individuals who wanted to pursue ideas but lacked the technical skills required to build products.
Osika believes that as AI reduces the need for large back-office teams and technical resources, entrepreneurs will increasingly be able to concentrate on their ideas, vision and the problems they want to solve.
