AI-Driven Bad Bots Surpass Human Traffic for First Time, Comprising 51% of Internet Activity

AI-driven malicious bots now dominate the internet for the first time, accounting for 51% of all web traffic while launching increasingly sophisticated attacks on APIs and user accounts with 40% more account takeovers than last year.

• AI-driven bad bots now comprise 51% of all internet traffic for the first time, surpassing human visitors and marking a critical tipping point in cybersecurity threats
• Nearly 44% of advanced bot traffic targets API endpoints compared to just 10% for traditional web applications, with attackers focusing on data scraping, payment fraud, and account takeovers
• Account takeover attacks surge 40% year-over-year as bots use sophisticated evasion techniques including residential proxies, headless browsers, and AI-assisted scripting to mimic human behavior