Cloudflare's CEO wants to save the web from AI's oligarchs
9 days ago
- #online journalism
- #Cloudflare
- #AI chatbots
- Matthew Prince and Michelle Zatlyn founded Cloudflare to combat internet threats, leveraging open-source technology.
- Cloudflare has grown into a $70 billion company, becoming a dominant force in cybersecurity and content delivery networks.
- Prince is now focused on saving the World Wide Web and online journalism from the negative impacts of AI chatbots.
- AI chatbots are disrupting the traditional economic model of the web by reducing referral traffic to publishers and increasing bandwidth costs.
- Prince proposes a 'pay-per-crawl' model to force AI companies to pay for content, similar to how Netflix and Spotify pay for media.
- Cloudflare's infrastructure allows it to block AI crawlers, potentially forcing AI companies to negotiate with publishers.
- Google's dominance in search and its transition to AI answer engines is a key factor in the future of content monetization.
- Prince envisions a future where AI companies compete based on exclusive content deals, similar to the entertainment industry.
- Publishers may start blocking Google's crawlers if the revenue from Google continues to decline.
- Prince believes that regulatory pressure and technological solutions can create a fairer system for content creators.