The internet is breaking. So what’s next? with Cloudflare’s Matthew Prince

What It Covers

Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince, speaking live at South by Southwest, examines how AI is dismantling the Internet's 30-year advertising business model, reshaping cybersecurity dynamics with Iran, accelerating workplace productivity gaps, and creating both existential threats and new opportunities for content creators and small businesses.

Key Questions Answered

• •AI Traffic Collapse: Getting traffic from AI platforms versus traditional Google is dramatically harder — 50x harder from current Google, 3,500x harder from OpenAI, and 65,000x harder from Anthropic compared to Google a decade ago. Content creators must renegotiate value exchange with AI companies or risk complete revenue collapse as summarization replaces direct site visits.
• •Cyber Conflict Pattern: Iranian cyberattacks spiked 7x above baseline on February 27, then dropped to under 10% of baseline on February 28 when US-Israeli strikes disrupted Iranian command-and-control infrastructure. Businesses should anticipate a rebound in Iranian attacks disguised as originating from other actors, as Cloudflare already observes renewed attack escalation.
• •AI Productivity Divide: Employees using AI tools are achieving roughly 100x the output of colleagues still relying on manual workflows. Workers aged 25–40 face the highest displacement risk because their career identity is built around skills AI now replicates, while junior employees adapt faster as native users of new tooling.
• •Data Moat in AI Competition: Google indexes five pages for every one page Microsoft Bing crawls, and 3.5 pages for every one OpenAI sees — giving Google a structural AI advantage rooted entirely in data access, not model architecture. AI companies seeking competitive parity should prioritize licensing unique, irreplaceable content rather than competing on model parameters alone.
• •Local and Niche Content Value: Hyper-specific, non-substitutable content — local restaurant reviews, granular hotel room comparisons, journalist source notes — commands higher AI licensing fees than general news. Prince's Park City, Utah local newspaper may generate more revenue from AI licensing than digital advertising in 2025, signaling a viable monetization path for niche publishers.