Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince论AI时代互联网的新商业模式

Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince在近期播客中表示，自动化流量已在2025年5月超过人类流量，预计未来5年内将达到人类流量的1000倍。1这一剧烈变化要求互联网基础设施建立全新的商业模式来应对成本压力。Prince提出，应通过HTTP 402支付协议等机制让AI公司为访问内容支付费用，费用可低至千分之一便士。1

作为掌控互联网20%以上流量的企业，Cloudflare有能力设置默认规则来阻止特定AI爬虫，除非对方同意付费。1Prince指出，Google已承诺增强爬虫透明度，允许发布者选择是否允许AI训练访问。1他强调，对新闻发布者而言，通过AI许可交易获得的收入可能会超过数字广告收入，特别是对地方媒体和掌握独特内容的机构而言。1

在企业自身运营方面，Cloudflare于今年5月进行了一次大规模人员调整，裁员1100人，占员工总数的20%。1Prince解释，这项决策主要针对测量、审计和中层管理等岗位，通过AI工具提升这些领域的工作效率。1例如，投资者关系团队通过AI工具将财务报表生成时间从两周缩短至3分钟。1

Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince has outlined a vision for reshaping how artificial intelligence interacts with the internet's infrastructure and content creators. Speaking on The Verge podcast, Prince argued that the explosive growth of automated traffic demands new economic models to sustain the web's underlying systems.1

The urgency of this shift became apparent in May 2025, when automated traffic surpassed human traffic on Cloudflare's network, with Prince projecting that AI-generated traffic could reach 1,000 times the volume of human traffic within five years.1 To address this imbalance, Prince proposed implementing the HTTP 402 payment protocol to enable micropayments, allowing AI companies to access content by paying fees as small as a fraction of a penny.1 Cloudflare's control over more than 20 percent of internet traffic positions it to enforce such models by default, blocking AI crawlers from companies like Google unless they agree to pay, Prince noted.1

The content creation industry could benefit significantly from these licensing arrangements. News publishers may generate more revenue from AI licensing deals than from digital advertising, particularly smaller outlets and those producing unique content, according to Prince's assessment.1 He cited the music industry as a precedent, noting that Spotify returned 12 billion dollars to music creators last year.1 Additionally, Google has committed to enhancing crawler transparency and giving publishers the option to restrict AI training access to their content.1

Prince also discussed Cloudflare's internal restructuring as it adopts AI tools to enhance efficiency. In May 2025, the company laid off 1,100 employees, representing 20 percent of its workforce, primarily from measurement, audit, and middle management roles.1 The transition has yielded tangible productivity gains—Cloudflare's investor relations team reduced the time to generate financial reports from two weeks to three minutes through AI assistance.1