
Empire
Cloudflare CEO: The Man Deciding The Internet’s Next Business Model
Sep 7, 2026
About this episode
What happens when AI agents become the internet’s dominant users? This week, Jason sits down with Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince to explore how AI agents could fundamentally reshape the internet’s business model. They discuss 1,000x agent traffic, why everything wrong with the world is Google's fault, AI flattening organizations, micropayments at unprecedented scale, and whether AI becomes the new interface to the internet. Enjoy! TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 Intro 00:45 How The Internet Got Here 05:52 Did Ads Break Society? 10:20 Why AI Labs Fear Google 16:59 What Cloudflare Actually Does 19:56 Ads (Token2049, Avalanche Summit) 21:35 When Cloudflare Went AI-First 27:20 AI Is Flattening Companies 35:39 What Happens To Human Work? 39:18 Why Public Markets Work Better 43:59 Who Pays For The Agent Internet? 54:08 Do Agents Need Blockchains? 01:01:09 What Breaks In The Agent Internet? 01:07:30 Will AI Become The Internet? FOLLOW GUEST › Matthew – https://x.com/eastdakota › Cloudflare – https://www.cloudflare.com/ FOLLOW THE SHOW › Empire – https://x.com/theempirepod › Jason – https://x.com/jasonyanowitz › Telegram – https://t.me/+CaCYvTOB4Eg1OWJh › Blockworks – https://x.com/Blockworks EVENTS › Join us at Digital Asset Summit 2026 Asia October 7th & Digital Asset 2026 London November 10-11th https://blockworks.com/events › Avalanche Summit NYC lands Sept. 16–17. Save 15% with code BLOCKWORKS15: avalanchesummit.com/registration DISCLAIMER Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only. Any views expressed are opinions, not financial advice. Hosts and guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.