Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince stated that optimizing for artificial intelligence (AI) agents represents a new form of search engine optimization (SEO), signaling a shift in web monetization strategies.
The company recorded its initial revenue from its “Act 4” products in the third quarter, which are designed to establish a new business model for internet interactions, according to Prince.
Prince indicated that Cloudflare is assisting its customers in optimizing their web presence for AI agents, which he described as similar to a modern version of SEO. Customers can choose to either attract AI agent traffic or block it if they perceive it as a threat.
OpenAI is currently compensating Cloudflare for data that indicates when web pages have changed. This information helps OpenAI’s crawlers operate more efficiently and reduces the need for redundant data fetching, Cloudflare reported.
Prince anticipates that future monetization will involve micropayments for visits by AI agents. He suggested that agents providing more context about their purpose could receive discounts on these payments.
Cloudflare launched two beta payment products, Monetization Gateway and Pay Per Use, on September 30. These products are intended to facilitate charging AI agents and compensating publishers for their content.
Speaking to analysts from Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo, Prince projected that Act 4 products would grow to become the largest segment of Cloudflare’s business within the next 10 years.
Source: Search Engine Journal
