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Cloudflare Sets New Default To Separate Search Crawlers From AI Bots

by THEFUTURE.TEAM

July 2, 2026

Cloudflare has drawn a sharper line between traditional search and artificial intelligence.

Beginning September 15, 2026, the company will change its default settings to block so-called mixed-use crawlers from pages that run ads, unless a site owner chooses otherwise. The policy applies to new Cloudflare customers, new sites created by existing customers, and all current free customers.

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A Clearer Divide In Web Access

The shift could materially reshape how AI companies collect web data for model training and agentic products. Cloudflare’s central argument is straightforward: most publishers want their content to remain visible in search and accessible through certain AI services, but they do not want that same material repurposed without compensation.

In Cloudflare’s view, the problem is not crawling itself. It is the blending of three different functions: search, agentic use, and training into a single bot that makes it difficult for website owners to set meaningful boundaries.

The Google Question

Cloudflare pointedly referenced the “world’s largest search engine,” an unmistakable nod to Google, arguing that it has access to roughly twice as much information as rival AI companies because it makes it harder for customers to stay discoverable without also being used for AI.

Google has disputed that framing. The company offers Google Extended, a crawler setting that lets publishers opt out of having content used for training and AI products such as Gemini apps and Vertex AI, without affecting visibility in Google Search. At the same time, Googlebot still crawls for Search and for AI-powered features such as AI Overviews and AI Mode.

Publishers Want Reach, Not Exploitation

Matthew Prince, Cloudflare’s co-founder and chief executive, said the company is moving quickly because the internet is now dominated by machine traffic.

“Now that the majority of traffic on the Internet is non-human, we must go further and act faster so that a sustainable ecosystem can emerge,” Prince said, referring to the recent milestone in which bots surpassed human traffic online sooner than expected.

Prince added that Cloudflare’s tools and partnerships are designed to give publishers more visibility and commercial leverage, while also rewarding AI companies that are transparent about how they use content.

From Pay Per Crawl To Pay Per Use

Cloudflare has increasingly positioned itself as a gatekeeper for publishers looking to assert control in the AI era. The company already offers tools to block AI bots, along with a marketplace called Pay Per Crawl, which lets websites charge AI systems for scraping.

That framework is now expanding into Pay Per Use, which Cloudflare says will allow publishers to charge AI companies when content creates value, not merely when it is fetched. In practical terms, that shifts the economics from extraction to monetization.

Cloudflare says the move may also reduce waste. Its data suggests more than half of crawl traffic from AI bots is spent revisiting pages that have not changed, consuming bandwidth and compute without adding fresh value for either side.

Early Partners Signal The Commercial Model

To launch the new system, Cloudflare is working with Ceramic.ai and You.com. Under the opt-in model, publishers can be paid when their content appears in Ceramic’s AI search results or when You.com accesses premium material.

Cloudflare says other AI companies can adapt the model to fit their own products. The broader message is clear: the era of unrestricted crawling is giving way to one in which access, attribution, and compensation are increasingly negotiated rather than assumed.

The Future Forbes Realty Global Properties

Bending Spoons Goes Public As It Turns Aging Internet Brands Into A Growth Machine

by THEFUTURE.TEAM

July 2, 2026

AOL is back on the public market — in a way. Its owner, Bending Spoons, the Italian software company known for acquiring and rebuilding struggling internet brands, debuted on Nasdaq on Thursday at a valuation above $18 billion before its shares surged 40% by the close.

A Long-Term Approach To Acquisitions

Founded 13 years ago in Milan, Bending Spoons has built a business around acquiring well-known digital brands, including Meetup, Eventbrite, Vimeo, WeTransfer and AOL. Unlike many private equity firms, however, the company says its goal is not to buy, cut costs and sell.

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“We want to place ourselves as an operator that takes beloved brands and makes them much better,” co-founder and Chief Product Officer Matteo Danieli told TechCrunch.

AI Is Accelerating Growth

The company’s acquisition strategy has attracted criticism, particularly over workforce reductions following takeovers. Even so, Bending Spoons says revenue has continued to grow, with artificial intelligence playing an increasingly important role.

“In the past year and a half, we’ve witnessed an incredible acceleration in the pace at which we were able to ship new features and create value for users,” Danieli said.

That focus is reflected throughout the company’s IPO filing, which describes AI as a capability it had been developing long before the technology became mainstream.

Turning Failure Into A Strategy

Before founding Bending Spoons, Danieli and his co-founders built Evertale, a startup that used machine learning to automatically create a digital diary of users’ lives. Although the business failed, it shaped the philosophy behind Bending Spoons.

“It sparked a reflection around the fact that you don’t always find perfect correlation between how talented entrepreneurs are and the success they have,” Danieli said. “Luck is a very big component of that equation.”

Rather than relying on finding the next breakthrough product, the founders focused on building a business centred on operational excellence. As the company states in its SEC filing, “luck plays a big role in finding product-market fit,” but “luck is irrelevant when pursuing operational excellence.”

Data, Pricing And Product Improvement

That philosophy drives how Bending Spoons manages the businesses it acquires. The company relies heavily on analytics, experimentation and pricing tests to improve products and monetisation. While some pricing changes have drawn criticism from long-time users, Danieli said customer retention has remained “remarkably stable.”

Evernote has become the company’s most closely watched turnaround. Danieli described it as Bending Spoons’ most satisfying acquisition, pointing to the AI-focused v11 update and saying the company ultimately won back many users, including Evernote co-founder Phil Libin.

A Different Kind Of Public Company

The company’s model was initially met with scepticism from investors, who struggled to classify a business combining software operations with an acquisition-driven growth strategy. Over time, however, confidence grew. Before its IPO, Bending Spoons had already reached an $11 billion private valuation and attracted backing from prominent investors across technology and entertainment.

Its emphasis on talent has also become a competitive advantage. According to the company’s SEC filing, revenue per full-time employee increased from $1.12 million in 2023 to $2.57 million in 2025, before reaching $0.97 million in the first quarter of 2026, partly reflecting productivity gains from AI.

To mark its stock market debut, Bending Spoons brought its entire workforce to New York for the listing ceremony. Danieli said the IPO provides another source of capital to support the company’s acquisition strategy, but added that the focus remains unchanged.

“From a buyer’s perspective and as a company that grows through acquisitions, that’s actually a great opportunity and moment to deploy capital,” he said.