‘Happened Faster Than I Predicted’: Bots Now Generate More Internet Traffic Than Humans

Published 7 June 2026 · world

‘Happened Faster Than I Predicted’: Bots Now Generate More Internet Traffic Than Humans Published By, Powered by Last Updated: June 07, 2026, 17:35 IST Cloudflare's

‘Happened Faster Than I Predicted’: Bots Now Generate More Internet Traffic Than Humans Published By, Powered by Last Updated: June 07, 2026, 17:35 IST Cloudflare's latest data shows that bots now generate 57.5% of HTTP requests across the internet, while human users account for the remaining 42.5%. Rapid Read Matthew Prince, CEO of CloudFlare. (AFP photo) Bots have overtaken humans in generating internet traffic for the first time, according to Matthew Prince, chief executive of Cloudflare, a leading internet infrastructure and cybersecurity company. In a post on X, Prince said that “agentic traffic" is growing so quickly that automated systems now account for the majority of online activity. He noted that the shift had happened much earlier than he expected, after previously predicting that bots would surpass human-generated traffic in 2027.

Cloudflare’s latest data shows that bots now generate 57.5 per cent of HTTP requests across the internet, while human users account for the remaining 42.5 per cent. Although Prince acknowledged that it is difficult to identify the exact point when bots overtook humans because the data is complex, he said the internet is now “clearly on the other side". AI Agents Driving The Shift The rise in traffic is being fuelled by a new generation of AI-powered agents rather than traditional web crawlers or spam bots. According to Cloudflare, these systems browse websites in a way that resembles human behaviour and carry out tasks on behalf of users. AI agents can read product pages, compare prices, search for flights, research purchases, order food, handle customer service queries and collect information for AI models.

Cloudflare tracks these visitors through categories such as verified bots and signed agents, allowing it to separate them from other forms of automated traffic. Humans Still Dominate Online Engagement Despite the surge in bot activity, Cloudflare said humans remain the main consumers of internet content. Activities such as watching videos, using mobile apps, scrolling through social media and spending time on websites do not generate the same volume of rapid requests as AI agents. As a result, people still account for most of the time spent online, even though automated systems now create more web requests. Cloudflare’s country-level data showed Gibraltar recorded the highest share of bot traffic at 92.1 per cent, followed by Singapore and Iran, both at 76.4 per cent. News18 Newsletter Handpicked stories, in your inbox A newsletter with the best of our journalism submit About the Author News Desk The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad.