How bots are overtaking humans on the internet | The Indicator

Bots now account for more than half of internet traffic, and the episode argues that this shift is changing both how the web feels and how it makes money. The host contrasts the early, human-centered internet with today’s environment of AI agents, automated email, synthetic influencers, and algorithmically tuned content, which can make online interactions feel less personal and more uncanny.

A guest from Cloudflare says the industry is struggling to separate bot traffic from human traffic, and that distinction matters because bots browse differently. AI crawlers can scrape widely, synthesize answers, and keep users from clicking through to original sites, which hurts publishers and any business that depends on ads. The episode says this is part of the zero-click internet problem, where summaries replace visits and drain traffic.

The discussion also turns to what comes next for shopping and banking. The guest argues the web may need new pricing models such as subscriptions, pay-per-use, or pay-crawl rather than relying on ad-supported pages. Amazon has banned its Muse agent from shopping for customers, and banks including JPMorgan and Bank of America have restricted agents from account access over security concerns. The guest still thinks bots and humans can coexist online, but not without major changes to infrastructure and incentives.