Masters of Scale The internet is breaking. So what’s next? with Cloudflare’s Matthew Prince
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Mar 31, 2026 
Matthew Prince, Co-founder and CEO of Cloudflare, a leader in internet infrastructure and security. He discusses skyrocketing AI bot traffic and the future makeup of the web. He explains how AI shifts hacking and defense, why data and local news matter for AI power, and how agents may rewrite commerce and brand trust.
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AI Is Rewriting How Websites Get Traffic
- AI is breaking the old search-driven traffic model by summarizing content so users no longer visit original sites.
- Matthew Prince shows data: traffic from Google became 20x harder, then 50x, while OpenAI and Anthropic make it thousands of times harder to get direct visits.
Cyberattacks Spike Then Shift During Conflicts
- Nation-state cyber activity spikes can precede or follow kinetic actions and then evolve unpredictably.
- Prince describes Iran-origin attacks spiking 7x on Feb 27 then collapsing, likely due to disrupted command-and-control or deliberate internet shutdowns.
Data Advantage Will Decide AI Security Outcomes
- AI amplifies both attacker efficiency and defender capabilities because speed and data matter.
- Prince notes attacks that took days now take hours or minutes, but defenders with more data (good actors) retain advantage.