AI Bots Now Dominate Web Traffic and Court Sides Against Google in Scraping Case

Robert Jacobi:
Good day, everyone. Welcome to Open Channels News, or simply OCN. We here look forward to providing relevant news in a more traditional yet short-form news broadcast. We will seek to be as timely as possible, providing relevant, important, and maybe even groundbreaking coverage in the open source content management, hosting, and domain name ecosystems. I’m Robert Jacobi. Chief Experience Officer at Blackwall, a web traffic and cybersecurity company, and your primary news host. While we will strive to be a daily program, content and professional obligations may cause skips in our programming. As we grow, we look forward to adding to your daily reporting and broadcasting team. Additionally, while Open Channels is a sponsored network, our news is independent and free of editorial and sponsor influence or control. We believe in our mission to provide the content that best fits our coverage mission. The OCN team is a volunteer group of like-minded individuals who believe in open source and the benefits it provides the world. Please bear with us as we work out the kinks and improve on this every day. Welcome to Open Channels News. In the news today, July 27th, 2026, we are catching up with news that has occurred over the last few weeks. The Next Web reports on July 24th that bots now generate most web traffic as AI agent activity surges nearly 8,000%, upending ad models and analytics built for humans. Bots now outnumber humans on the internet for the first time in the web’s history. Cloudflare, the security firm that sits in front of millions of websites, says automated traffic crossed the 50% threshold in June and now accounts for nearly 58% of all web page requests. A separate report from cybersecurity firm Human Security found that traffic from AI agents that actively click links and fill out forms grew nearly 8,000% the past year alone. July 20th, in Google versus SERPAPI, the court granted SERPAPI’s motion to dismiss. This lawsuit was brought by Google to utilize the DMCA to stop scraping of its content. Note that Google itself has scraped content for decades. And in memoriam. Oh, and our first little challenge. We’re going so well. And in memoriam. Uh, we’d like to think on 2, uh, dignitaries, luminaries of the internet space over the last decades, few decades. First, Om Malik. The technology industry is remembering pioneer journalist, entrepreneur, and investor Om Malik, who passed away on June 24th, 2026. He was 59 years old and was surrounded by family and close friends. Born in New Delhi, Om became one of the world’s earliest and most respected technology journalists after reporting for publications including Forbes and Business 2.0. He founded GigaOM in 2001, helping define the modern technology blog and changing how Silicon Valley news was reported. He later joined Tim— True Ventures, where he advised and invested in the next generation of technology startups while continuing to write the thoughtful commentary on the future of computing and society. Known for his insightful analysis, elegant writing, and ability to see long-term technology trends before they became mainstream, Malik earned the respect of entrepreneurs, investors, and journalists alike. Even after stepping away from day-to-day investing, he remained one of the industry’s most trusted voices on artificial intelligence, cloud computing, networking, and the human impact of technology. Also, in addition to Om Malik, John C. Dvorak passed away last week. The technology world is mourning his loss as a pioneering journalist, columnist, and broadcaster. He passed away on July 20th, 2026, at the age of 80. He was born on April 5th, 1946, in Los Angeles, California. For more than 4 decades, Dvorak was one of the most recognizable and influential voices in technology journalism. His column in PC Magazine, InfoWorld, and numerous other publications helped shape the public’s understanding of the personal computer revolution. He later became a familiar face on television through Tech TV and continued to reach audiences through podcasts, including This Week in Tech, DH Unplugged, and No Agenda. Known for a sharp wit, fearless commentary, and willingness to challenge conventional wisdom, Dvorak built a reputation as one of the industry’s most outspoken and memorable analysts. Whether readers agreed with him or not, his opinions sparked debate and influenced generations. John C. Dvorak was 80 years old. And now we’re closing our first episode. We’re going to keep them quick, short, and to the point. Thank you for tuning in. Be open and stay safe.