AI-generated internet traffic is growing 6.5 times faster than human traffic, signaling a major shift in how businesses manage websites, applications and online services, according to new research from edge cloud platform Fastly. The company found AI traffic on its global network rose about 30 percent between January and May 2026, driven by AI crawlers, fetchers, agents and other automated systems.

“AI traffic is fundamentally changing how the internet operates,” said Artur Bergman, founder and chief technology officer of Fastly. “Businesses are moving beyond a world where humans are the primary users of digital experiences. The challenge is no longer simply blocking bots, it’s understanding which machine interactions should be accelerated, managed, challenged, or stopped.”

Fastly said AI traffic is becoming a business strategy rather than just a cybersecurity issue, as companies weigh whether to block or embrace AI systems that index content and power AI assistants. The company also found Claude-related traffic surged more than 555 percent from its January baseline, underscoring the rapid rise of AI-powered services.