AI answer engines threaten content creators' livelihoods: Cloudflare CEO
Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince says AI answer engines are taking over from traditional search, and it's hurting content creators.
He points out, "Ten years ago, for every two pages Google scraped, they sent one visitor; now six pages are scraped per visitor."
In short: Google's old give-and-take with creators isn't working anymore.
Prince highlights the impact on content creators
Prince warns that 75% of searches are now answered right on Google, so fewer people visit original sites—meaning less traffic and money for journalists and researchers.
He's concerned that AI companies use content from creators without credit or sending users back to the source, saying it puts the whole ad-supported web at risk.
Proposed solution: AI companies should pay for content access
Prince suggests AI companies should pay for access to original content.
Cloudflare's AI bot blocking feature (launched in summer 2025) lets websites prevent unlicensed AI bots from scraping their content.
Prince has proposed a future "pay-per-crawl" model that would allow sites to charge AI companies for access, aiming to ensure independent creators are rewarded as AI changes how we find information online.
Who is Matthew Prince?
Matthew Prince co-founded Cloudflare in 2009 and has led it ever since.
He's known for his work in internet infrastructure and digital economics, focusing on protecting creator rights as tech keeps evolving.