Cloudflare has spent nearly fifteen years making the Internet faster, more reliable, and more secure. So now that AI systems are changing the way we interact with the Internet, Cloudflare wants to help level the playing field for content creators. Sarah Guo and Elad Gil sit down with Matthew Prince, co-founder and CEO of Cloudflare to discuss the evolution of the internet from search to AI, including Cloudflare’s role in facilitating that shift. Matthew talks about how AI assistants are changing the shape of the Internet, the problems Google created by making traffic the arbiter of content value, and how he sees Cloudflare’s part in facilitating the new content marketplace for the mutual benefit of creators and AI companies. Plus, a look towards how agentic infrastructure may unfold in the near future.

Chapters:

00:00 – Matthew Prince Introduction

00:37 – Cloudflare’s Role in Securing the Internet

02:08 – The Road to Cloudflare’s Dominance

03:20 – The Internet’s Shift from Search to AI

06:34 – Role of Agents and Content on the New Web

09:44 – Reshaping the Content Market Online

13:05 – De-emphasizing Traffic as a Proxy for Value

18:04 – Will We Run Out of Quality Human-Generated Content?

20:01 – Scaling the Value of Content in the AI Age

22:32 – Cloudflare’s Approach to Inference

24:55 – How Cloudflare Responds to Market Demand

26:04 – Open vs. Closed Models

27:21 – Path to the New Marketplace for Content

30:58 – Advice for Content Creators

32:47 – Exploring the Timeline for Running Models Locally

40:07 – The Future of Agentic Infrastructure

44:52 – Conclusion

The Shifting Value of Content in the AI Age with Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince