“AI Will Break the Internet” — Cloudflare CEO’s Big Prediction

About this episode

Eric Ries interviews Matthew Prince about Cloudflare's mission and the impact of AI on the internet.

What if your company’s mission turned out to be bigger than you imagined? In this episode of The Eric Ries Show , I speak with Matthew Prince, co-founder and CEO of Cloudflare, now a $70 billion company defending 20% of all internet traffic. We trace how Cloudflare’s mission wasn’t declared at the start, but discovered through a series of principled decisions, from protecting journalists and activists to making encryption free for everyone. We also explore today’s urgent challenges: how AI’s shift from search engines to answer engines threatens the web’s business model, why creators must be compensated, and what a sustainable, human-centered internet could look like. This is a conversation about technology, power, and what it means to build with principle. — Where to find Mathew Prince: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mprince/ • X: https://x.com/eastdakota — Where to find Eric: • Newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://ericries.carrd.co/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ • Podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://ericriesshow.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ • YouTube…

People in this episode

Host: Eric Ries

Guest: Matthew Prince

Topics covered

• AI
• internet
• business model
• technology
• entrepreneurship
• sustainability

Keywords

• AI
• Cloudflare
• internet traffic
• encryption
• business model
• technology

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Cloudflare, LinkedIn, YouTube

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