Agentic AI
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Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning
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Cloud Security
Matthew Prince: AI Assistants Are Replacing Traditional Search and Commerce Models
Artificial intelligence assistants are the primary way of consuming information and conducting commerce, challenging advertising-driven models that have sustained the internet for decades, said Cloudflare’s Matthew Prince.
See Also: OnDemand | Security Operations in the Age of AI
Traditional search crawlers repeatedly access unchanged web pages, wasting bandwidth and server resources, and Prince said AI firms need to reduce the infrastructure burden they place on websites. He expects AI providers and eventually traditional search engines to adopt efficient crawling methods. Cloudflare’s platform detects when pages actually change and can notify AI search providers right away (see: Why Cloudflare Blocked Unauthorized AI Access to Web Content).
“Google has been the laggard in this,” Prince said. “More than 90% of the pages that Google accesses haven’t had any changes to them, which means that all the server resources, the bandwidth, are just a complete deadweight loss. As they’re delivering less value back – because that traditional search is going to be less and less valuable – I think that the internet is going to put up with their behavior a lot less.”
In this video interview with ISMG, Prince also discussed:
- Why billions of AI agents operating continuously would overwhelm containers;
- How internet infrastructure should evolve to support an AI-first world;
- Why companies should make AI-driven workforce changes proactively and not delay.
Prince, who co-founded Cloudflare in July 2009, has served as CEO and chair of its board of directors since then. Prior to that, he co-founded software and services company Unspam Technologies and has served as its chair since December 2001. Prince is also the co-creator of Project Honey Pot, the largest community of webmasters tracking online fraud and abuse.

