Marketplace Tech Pay-per-crawl model would make AI firms pay for the content they scrape
Jul 10, 2025
Matthew Prince, co-founder and CEO of Cloudflare, dives into the urgent issue of AI crawlers that scrape online content without compensation. He proposes a groundbreaking pay-per-crawl model aimed at forcing AI companies to pay for the data they harvest. The conversation highlights the struggles of content creators burdened by this practice and explores innovative measures Cloudflare is implementing to protect their rights. Prince envisions a fairer internet where the value of content is recognized and creators receive the compensation they deserve.
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AI Threat to Content Monetization
- AI companies scrape content without sending traffic back, unlike traditional search engines like Google.
- This behavior undermines content creators' ability to monetize through ad sales as traffic drops.
AI as Interface Reduces Traffic
- AI interfaces consume derivatives of original content, reducing direct traffic to original sources.
- This shift harms content creators' incentives as their audience increasingly uses AI instead of visiting original sites.
Create Scarcity to Monetize Content
- Content creators should create scarcity by blocking AI scrapers to establish a market for their content.
- AI companies then pay for access, enabling fair compensation for content creators.