Turns out Dead Internet Theory was right: AI agents are eating the Web, growing by nearly 8,000% and rewiring the Internet's business model

bots (Credit: Getty Images)

The dead internet theory has floated around internet forums since the 2010s, and the idea that the internet is dominated by non-human activity was often dismissed as a fringe conspiracy. Now it has become a measurable fact. Not only do multiple cybersecurity firms agree that bots outnumber humans online, they likewise are struggling to answer when the flip happened or what metrics to use to measure it.

CloudFlare, the Internet security and performance giant used by millions of websites worldwide, says the crossover occurred in June, with bots generating 57.5% of webpage requests. Thales, a French tech group that protects data security for organizations and governments, dates the crossover back to 2023, issuing a “Bad Bot Report” that put bot traffic at 53% in 2026.