Cloudflare Has Blocked 416B AI Bot Requests Since July 1
6 days ago
- #internet
- #AI
- #Cloudflare
- Cloudflare has blocked over 400 billion AI bot requests since July 1, 2024, as part of its Content Independence Day initiative.
- Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince highlights the dramatic shift in the internet's business model due to AI, emphasizing the need for a fair playing field for businesses of all sizes.
- Google's policy of combining search and AI crawlers forces content creators to choose between blocking AI training and maintaining search visibility, raising concerns about monopoly power.
- Cloudflare data reveals Google sees significantly more internet pages than competitors like OpenAI, Microsoft, and Meta, giving it privileged access.
- Blocking AI crawlers has shown promising results for publishers, suggesting potential for licensing deals and paid content models.
- Prince advocates for regulatory intervention and pressure on AI companies to adopt pluralistic business models that expand markets rather than centralize them.
- Prince compares Google to a Marvel movie villain, criticizing its role in hindering progress on the internet and calling for separate search and AI crawlers.