A new report from Human Security reveals that automated traffic has now surpassed human users as the dominant form of internet activity. The cybersecurity firm's "State of AI Traffic" shows AI and bots generating more internet interactions than people, fundamentally changing the internet's original design assumption of human users on the other end.

The report indicates automated traffic grew almost eight times faster than human activity in 2025, with AI traffic increasing 187% from January to December. This surge correlates with the proliferation of large language models like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. Agentic activity—AI performing actions autonomously—exploded with nearly 8,000% growth in 2025 after being minimal in 2024.

Quantifying this automated activity presents challenges, as Filippo Menczer notes that estimates depend on data sampling methods. While not all automated traffic is malicious, the report serves as a significant benchmark in the AI age of the internet. Cloudflare previously predicted AI bots would exceed human traffic by 2027, a timeline now appearing conservative as the shift accelerates.