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UK — The Register

AI agents are a ‘bane’ for some website operators, says Cloudflare

Software1 min read

Cloudflare's CEO, Matthew Prince, says AI agents are a burden for some website owners because they load many pages but bring little value. He also said some hackers likely used a PHP flaw called PHP2SHELL before it was made public.

What happened

On Cloudflare's third quarter earnings call, CEO Matthew Prince made several claims. He said nation-state actors and criminals likely used the PHP2SHELL bug before it was disclosed. He also said some Cloudflare customers see AI agents as a bane, meaning a nuisance or harm, to their business. Prince said containers, a common way to package and run software, may be losing their place in the age of AI agents.

Key numbers and facts

  • Cloudflare expects agent traffic to be about 1,000 times greater than human clicks.
  • About five percent of the web has opted in to Cloudflare's content protection products since July 1, according to Prince.
  • Year-on-year revenue grew 39 percent.
  • Quarterly revenue reached a record $782.5 million.
  • Meta is already a Cloudflare customer.

Why agents cost website owners money

An AI agent is a program that can search the web and act for a person. In Prince's example, an agent might visit 1,000 restaurant websites to find one place to eat. Each visit uses the restaurant's computer power and bandwidth, which costs money. Only one restaurant gets a customer, but the other 999 still pay the cost.

Why it matters

Website owners may have to pay for traffic that never brings them customers. Cloudflare sells tools that can block agents, reduce their cost, or let companies charge AI firms for traffic. So the CEO has a business reason to press this point. Prince also warned that the number of new security flaws is high and that the worst may not be over.

What to watch

  • Whether Cloudflare finds proof that hackers used PHP2SHELL before it was disclosed.
  • How fast website owners adopt tools that block or charge AI agents.
  • Whether containers lose ground to serverless options like Cloudflare's Workers.
  • How Meta's new Muse agents affect traffic on Cloudflare's network.

Glossary

Cloudflare
A company that helps run and protect websites and apps, and sells tools for handling bot and AI traffic.
PHP2SHELL
A security flaw in PHP, a popular programming language for websites, that hackers may have used before it was made public.
AI agents
Programs that can browse the web and carry out tasks for a person without constant human control.
Workers
Cloudflare's serverless service, which Prince offered as an alternative to containers.

Same story, different eyes

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