Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince has said that artificial intelligence could replace a large category of jobs, particularly those linked to middle management and internal performance tracking, as companies rethink their workforce structure. His comments come as Cloudflare announced it is cutting around 20 per cent of its workforce, or about 1,100 employees, despite reporting strong revenue growth and an expanding customer base.&nbsp;<h2>Why Cloudflare is reducing jobs</h2>According to Prince, most of the roles affected by layoffs were what he described as “measurer” roles. These include positions in:Middle management Finance and accounting Legal and compliance Internal auditing Revenue trackingHe said these roles primarily focus on measuring and evaluating organisational performance, tasks that AI systems can now handle more efficiently.<h2>How AI is replacing ‘measurer’ roles</h2>Prince argued that modern AI systems are capable of analysing company data with greater speed and accuracy than humans. He described AI as:Constantly available Independent in decision-making More precise in analysing performanceThis allows organisations to rely less on human oversight for routine measurement tasks, leading to reduced demand for certain roles.<h2>Which jobs may remain safer for now</h2>While some roles are being reduced, Prince suggested that “builders” and “sellers” are likely to remain in demand.These include:Engineers and developers who create products Sales teams who generate revenue Cloudflare has indicated that it will continue hiring in these areas, reflecting a shift towards roles that directly contribute to growth.<h2>AI layoffs becoming a wider trend</h2>Cloudflare’s move is part of a broader trend across the technology industry. Several companies have linked job cuts to increased use of AI. Reports indicate that more than 49,000 job cuts in the United States in 2026 have been connected to AI-driven changes, according to data from Challenger, Gray &amp; Christmas. Other companies, including Meta and Block, have also reduced staff while investing heavily in AI technologies.<h2>Debate over ‘AI-driven layoffs’</h2>Not all experts agree that AI is the only reason behind these layoffs. Some analysts describe the trend as “AI washing”, where companies attribute job cuts to AI while also managing costs or adjusting after over-hiring during the pandemic. For example, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen has argued that many firms are still correcting workforce levels following rapid expansion in previous years.<h2>What research says about AI and jobs</h2>Studies by Anthropic suggest that AI tools are increasingly capable of handling tasks in areas such as finance, legal work and management. However, the research also notes that no role is completely immune to automation, including engineering and sales over the long term.<h2>What this means for the future of work</h2>The shift at Cloudflare highlights how AI is beginning to reshape organisational structures. Companies are moving away from roles focused on oversight and measurement towards roles that build products and drive revenue. While AI may reduce certain job categories, it is also changing the skills required in the workforce. As AI adoption increases, more companies are expected to review their workforce strategies. The balance between automation and human roles will remain a key issue for businesses and policymakers. The development shows that AI is not only changing technology, but also how companies are structured and how work is organised.

Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince has said that artificial intelligence could replace a large category of jobs, particularly those linked to middle management and internal performance tracking, as companies rethink their workforce structure.


Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince has said that artificial intelligence could replace a large category of jobs, particularly those linked to middle management and internal performance tracking, as companies rethink their workforce structure. His comments come as Cloudflare announced it is cutting around 20 per cent of its workforce, or about 1,100 employees, despite reporting strong revenue growth and an expanding customer base. Why Cloudflare is reducing jobs According to Prince, most of the roles affected by layoffs were what he described as “measurer” roles. These include positions in: Middle management Finance and accounting Legal and compliance Internal auditing Revenue tracking He said these roles primarily focus on measuring and evaluating organisational performance, tasks that AI systems can now handle more efficiently. How AI is replacing ‘measurer’ roles Prince argued that modern AI systems are capable of analysing company data with greater speed and accuracy than humans. He described AI as: Constantly available Independent in decision-making More precise in analysing performance This allows organisations to rely less on human oversight for routine measurement tasks, leading to reduced demand for certain roles. Which jobs may remain safer for now While some roles are being reduced, Prince suggested that “builders” and “sellers” are likely to remain in demand. These include: Engineers and developers who create products Sales teams who generate revenue Cloudflare has indicated that it will continue hiring in these areas, reflecting a shift towards roles that directly contribute to growth. AI layoffs becoming a wider trend Cloudflare’s move is part of a broader trend across the technology industry. Several companies have linked job cuts to increased use of AI. Reports indicate that more than 49,000 job cuts in the United States in 2026 have been connected to AI-driven changes, according to data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Other companies, including Meta and Block, have also reduced staff while investing heavily in AI technologies. Debate over ‘AI-driven layoffs’ Not all experts agree that AI is the only reason behind these layoffs. Some analysts describe the trend as “AI washing”, where companies attribute job cuts to AI while also managing costs or adjusting after over-hiring during the pandemic. For example, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen has argued that many firms are still correcting workforce levels following rapid expansion in previous years. What research says about AI and jobs Studies by Anthropic suggest that AI tools are increasingly capable of handling tasks in areas such as finance, legal work and management. However, the research also notes that no role is completely immune to automation, including engineering and sales over the long term. What this means for the future of work The shift at Cloudflare highlights how AI is beginning to reshape organisational structures. Companies are moving away from roles focused on oversight and measurement towards roles that build products and drive revenue. While AI may reduce certain job categories, it is also changing the skills required in the workforce. As AI adoption increases, more companies are expected to review their workforce strategies. The balance between automation and human roles will remain a key issue for businesses and policymakers. The development shows that AI is not only changing technology, but also how companies are structured and how work is organised.

Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince has said that artificial intelligence could replace a large category of jobs, particularly those linked to middle management and internal performance tracking, as companies rethink their workforce structure.

‘AI layoffs trend’: What Cloudflare’s move signals for industry

Cloudflare, the tech giant which deals with AI agents, has decided to fire 1,100 employees across its offices in the world. The founders admitted to their staff that the company has become one of its own biggest customers, and the use of AI has exploded by more than 600 per cent in just three months. An internal memo seen by Business Insider, sent by co-founders Matthew Prince and Michelle Zatlyn, reads, "The way we work at Cloudflare has fundamentally changed. We don’t just build and sell AI tools and platforms. We are our own most demanding customer." They admitted AI has taken over the scene at Cloudflare and that workers across engineering, HR, finance, and marketing are running "thousands of AI agent sessions each day." The memo shows that the company is shaping for the future, as it wrote, it has to be “intentional in how we architect our company for the agentic AI era.”<h2>Cloudflare layoffs: Total number of employees at the company</h2>On Thursday, the cloud networking firm reported $639.8 million in its first-quarter revenue, a 34 per cent increase from a year earlier. Cloudflare claims that the global layoffs are not a cost-cutting measure but part of an effort to “reimagine every internal process, team, and role across the company.” It has announced that it intends to become an AI-first company. At the end of 2025, the company had 5,156 full-time employees, which means the layoffs will affect nearly one-fifth of its global workforce. The Cloudflare founders insist that it is a one-time reset to avoid &nbsp;“smaller, repeated cuts”. “We’ve asked the team to do this only once.” The employees were reportedly notified directly through email about the restructuring and firings.Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/meta-layoffs-8-000-employees-to-lose-job-in-may-amid-massive-ai-push-1776997672113">Meta layoffs: 8,000 employees to lose jobs in May amid massive AI push</a><h2>Severance package at Cloudflare</h2> The affected employees are being offered generous severance packages. They will be given full base pay and health coverage for US employees through the end of 2026, and equity vesting through August 15. The restructuring, comprising mainly of severance and other benefits, is expected to cost Cloudflare $140 million to $150 million. It plans to complete the exercise by the end of the third quarter.&nbsp;

Cloudflare has announced its intention to become an AI-first company and will undertake massive restructuring that will cost around $150 million. It will fire 1,100 employees as it admitted that AI use has exploded at the company.

Cloudflare, the tech giant which deals with AI agents, has decided to fire 1,100 employees across its offices in the world. The founders admitted to their staff that the company has become one of its own biggest customers, and the use of AI has exploded by more than 600 per cent in just three months. An internal memo seen by Business Insider, sent by co-founders Matthew Prince and Michelle Zatlyn, reads, "The way we work at Cloudflare has fundamentally changed. We don’t just build and sell AI tools and platforms. We are our own most demanding customer." They admitted AI has taken over the scene at Cloudflare and that workers across engineering, HR, finance, and marketing are running "thousands of AI agent sessions each day." The memo shows that the company is shaping for the future, as it wrote, it has to be “intentional in how we architect our company for the agentic AI era.” Cloudflare layoffs: Total number of employees at the company On Thursday, the cloud networking firm reported $639.8 million in its first-quarter revenue, a 34 per cent increase from a year earlier. Cloudflare claims that the global layoffs are not a cost-cutting measure but part of an effort to “reimagine every internal process, team, and role across the company.” It has announced that it intends to become an AI-first company. At the end of 2025, the company had 5,156 full-time employees, which means the layoffs will affect nearly one-fifth of its global workforce. The Cloudflare founders insist that it is a one-time reset to avoid “smaller, repeated cuts”. “We’ve asked the team to do this only once.” The employees were reportedly notified directly through email about the restructuring and firings. Also Read: Meta layoffs: 8,000 employees to lose jobs in May amid massive AI push Severance package at Cloudflare The affected employees are being offered generous severance packages. They will be given full base pay and health coverage for US employees through the end of 2026, and equity vesting through August 15. The restructuring, comprising mainly of severance and other benefits, is expected to cost Cloudflare $140 million to $150 million. It plans to complete the exercise by the end of the third quarter.

Cloudflare has announced its intention to become an AI-first company and will undertake massive restructuring that will cost around $150 million. It will fire 1,100 employees as it admitted that AI use has exploded at the company.

Cloudflare announces mega layoffs as AI use explodes by 600%. 'Thousands of AI agent sessions...'

A major Cloudflare outage on 5 December 2025 caused internet disruptions across several countries, making many popular websites and apps inaccessible. Cloudflare confirmed that it is facing an “internal service degradation”, which is affecting its global network.Cloudflare is one of the most widely used internet infrastructure providers. Millions of websites rely on it for security, traffic routing and content delivery. Because of this, even a short disruption often impacts many online platforms at the same time.<h2>Cloudflare confirms internal issue</h2>Cloudflare’s status page shows that the company is investigating a problem inside its systems that has led to degraded performance.The company has also reported a large number of empty pages appearing when using the List API on Workers KV namespaces, and increased errors for customers running Workers scripts.Cloudflare said a fix has now been implemented and that engineers are monitoring the results. (Source: Cloudflare Status Page)&nbsp;Cloudflare has not yet shared the exact cause. Outages like this are rare but tend to have large-scale effects because of Cloudflare’s role as a backend service for many major platforms.<h2>Netizens express frustration</h2>Social media was flooded with posts from frustrated users across the world.Many reported that their work and businesses were disrupted due to the outage. Some demanded quick answers from the company, saying that repeated service failures are affecting productivity and online operations.Users also highlighted how essential Cloudflare has become for day-to-day internet usage, urging the company to ensure better reliability.<h2>Major platforms affected</h2>Many well-known platforms became slow or stopped working during the outage.&nbsp;As per the company, the issue has now been fixed, and services are gradually returning to normal as monitoring continues.

A major Cloudflare outage on 5 December 2025 caused internet disruptions across several countries, making many popular websites and apps inaccessible.

A major Cloudflare outage on 5 December 2025 caused internet disruptions across several countries, making many popular websites and apps inaccessible. Cloudflare confirmed that it is facing an “internal service degradation”, which is affecting its global network. Cloudflare is one of the most widely used internet infrastructure providers. Millions of websites rely on it for security, traffic routing and content delivery. Because of this, even a short disruption often impacts many online platforms at the same time. Cloudflare confirms internal issue Cloudflare’s status page shows that the company is investigating a problem inside its systems that has led to degraded performance. The company has also reported a large number of empty pages appearing when using the List API on Workers KV namespaces, and increased errors for customers running Workers scripts. Cloudflare said a fix has now been implemented and that engineers are monitoring the results. (Source: Cloudflare Status Page) Cloudflare has not yet shared the exact cause. Outages like this are rare but tend to have large-scale effects because of Cloudflare’s role as a backend service for many major platforms. Netizens express frustration Social media was flooded with posts from frustrated users across the world. Many reported that their work and businesses were disrupted due to the outage. Some demanded quick answers from the company, saying that repeated service failures are affecting productivity and online operations. Users also highlighted how essential Cloudflare has become for day-to-day internet usage, urging the company to ensure better reliability. Major platforms affected Many well-known platforms became slow or stopped working during the outage. As per the company, the issue has now been fixed, and services are gradually returning to normal as monitoring continues.

A major Cloudflare outage on 5 December 2025 caused internet disruptions across several countries, making many popular websites and apps inaccessible.

As Cloudflare goes down twice a month: What they have said about the outage

Cloudflare Outrage : Cloudflare has restored its services after a major outage disrupted access for thousands of users around the world. The incident affected websites, apps, and services reliant on Cloudflare’s network, but services are gradually returning to normal.

Cloudflare Restores Services After Major Outage | Thousands Face Access Issues

Cloudflare Outrage: On November 18, 2025, Cloudflare experienced a significant service outage that impacted thousands of websites and online services, including high-profile platforms like X (formerly Twitter) and ChatGPT. 


Cloudflare Identifies Technical Fault Behind Widespread Internet Outage

AI search startup Perplexity is facing strong criticism after Cloudflare, which is a web infrastructure company, published a <a href="https://blog.cloudflare.com/perplexity-is-using-stealth-undeclared-crawlers-to-evade-website-no-crawl-directives/&nbsp;">blog</a> post accusing it of bypassing site restrictions to collect web data.&nbsp;This comes shortly after Perplexity launched its Comet browser, which focuses on agent-based internet browsing powered by AI. In a blog post published by Cloudflare, the company claims that Perplexity has been scraping websites that requested not to be analysed by bots. This scraping reportedly continued even after site owners blocked access through standard rules and tools.&nbsp;<h2>Perplexity accused of disguising its bot activity</h2>Cloudflare conducted its own tests to investigate these claims. According to their blog, the company created new domains that explicitly requested not to be scraped. They then asked Perplexity AI questions about these domains. Surprisingly, Perplexity was still able to return information about the pages, despite access being denied.&nbsp;Cloudflare said that Perplexity may be changing the "user agent" of its crawler. Which means that the bot pretends to be a normal web visitor, rather than an AI tool, allowing it to access sites that have blocked AI crawlers.&nbsp;“This unusual activity was observed across tens of thousands of domains and millions of requests per day,” as mentioned by Cloudflare. They added that it used machine learning and network signals to identify the scraping pattern.&nbsp;<h2>Perplexity responds to the allegations</h2>In response, Jesse Dwyer, who is a spokesperson for Perplexity, told TechCrunch that the blog post was more of a marketing attempt by Cloudflare rather than an objective report. Dwyer said, “The screenshots in the blog show that no content was accessed.” She also claimed that the crawler named in the post “isn’t even ours”. Perplexity has denied any wrongdoing.&nbsp;<h2>The bigger debate: How AI gathers information</h2>AI tools like Perplexity, Claude, and ChatGPT rely on vast amounts of web content to train and answer user queries. These tools often scan forums, articles, and blogs to improve performance. This is done to improve the performance of the both and the agentic ai&nbsp;However, concerns are growing around data transparency and the ethics of content scraping. Some AI companies, such as OpenAI and Anthropic, have started offering opt-out options for websites. There is now increasing pressure on the AI industry to adopt clear guidelines on data collection.&nbsp;Cloudflare has taken a firm stance, stating that the current approach by some AI companies is “breaking the business model of the internet”. The company now aims to push back against unauthorised data scraping.

Cloudflare accuses AI platform Perplexity of ignoring site restrictions by using stealth crawlers that impersonate browsers and rotate IPs. The firm claims Perplexity accessed blocked domains. Perplexity denies wrongdoing, calling it a misunderstanding. 

AI search startup Perplexity is facing strong criticism after Cloudflare, which is a web infrastructure company, published a blog post accusing it of bypassing site restrictions to collect web data. This comes shortly after Perplexity launched its Comet browser, which focuses on agent-based internet browsing powered by AI. In a blog post published by Cloudflare, the company claims that Perplexity has been scraping websites that requested not to be analysed by bots. This scraping reportedly continued even after site owners blocked access through standard rules and tools. Perplexity accused of disguising its bot activity Cloudflare conducted its own tests to investigate these claims. According to their blog, the company created new domains that explicitly requested not to be scraped. They then asked Perplexity AI questions about these domains. Surprisingly, Perplexity was still able to return information about the pages, despite access being denied. Cloudflare said that Perplexity may be changing the "user agent" of its crawler. Which means that the bot pretends to be a normal web visitor, rather than an AI tool, allowing it to access sites that have blocked AI crawlers. “This unusual activity was observed across tens of thousands of domains and millions of requests per day,” as mentioned by Cloudflare. They added that it used machine learning and network signals to identify the scraping pattern. Perplexity responds to the allegations In response, Jesse Dwyer, who is a spokesperson for Perplexity, told TechCrunch that the blog post was more of a marketing attempt by Cloudflare rather than an objective report. Dwyer said, “The screenshots in the blog show that no content was accessed.” She also claimed that the crawler named in the post “isn’t even ours”. Perplexity has denied any wrongdoing. The bigger debate: How AI gathers information AI tools like Perplexity, Claude, and ChatGPT rely on vast amounts of web content to train and answer user queries. These tools often scan forums, articles, and blogs to improve performance. This is done to improve the performance of the both and the agentic ai However, concerns are growing around data transparency and the ethics of content scraping. Some AI companies, such as OpenAI and Anthropic, have started offering opt-out options for websites. There is now increasing pressure on the AI industry to adopt clear guidelines on data collection. Cloudflare has taken a firm stance, stating that the current approach by some AI companies is “breaking the business model of the internet”. The company now aims to push back against unauthorised data scraping.

Cloudflare accuses AI platform Perplexity of ignoring site restrictions by using stealth crawlers that impersonate browsers and rotate IPs. The firm claims Perplexity accessed blocked domains. Perplexity denies wrongdoing, calling it a misunderstanding.&nbsp;

Perplexity denies Cloudflare accusation of secretly scraping restricted websites

A hacker group claimed to has taken out credentials of high-level administrator account of Silicon Valley firm Verkada which runs an online camera security platform.

The hackers reportedly viewed live and archived surveillance footage from several businesses including Tesla Inc by gaining administrative access to camera maker Verkada.

Verkada said it had disabled all internal administrator accounts to prevent unauthorized access. The breach reportedly included Cloudflare, women's health clinics, psychiatric hospitals, prisons including offices of Verkada, according to reports.

Hackers said they had full video archive of Verkada customers. The camera maker said that it has notified companies that rely on its platform including law enforcement.

Reports said gym chain Bay Club and transportation technology startup Virgin Hyperloop were also hacked. According to the company website, it has links with 5,200 enterprise organizations with cloud-managed building security solution.

The images of the alleged hacked surveillance video were posted on Twitter with the hashtag #OperationPanopticon. 
&nbsp;

A hacker group claimed to has taken out credentials of high-level administrator account of Silicon Valley firm Verkada which runs an online camera security platform.

A hacker group claimed to has taken out credentials of high-level administrator account of Silicon Valley firm Verkada which runs an online camera security platform. The hackers reportedly viewed live and archived surveillance footage from several businesses including Tesla Inc by gaining administrative access to camera maker Verkada. Verkada said it had disabled all internal administrator accounts to prevent unauthorized access. The breach reportedly included Cloudflare, women's health clinics, psychiatric hospitals, prisons including offices of Verkada, according to reports. Hackers said they had full video archive of Verkada customers. The camera maker said that it has notified companies that rely on its platform including law enforcement. Reports said gym chain Bay Club and transportation technology startup Virgin Hyperloop were also hacked. According to the company website, it has links with 5,200 enterprise organizations with cloud-managed building security solution. The images of the alleged hacked surveillance video were posted on Twitter with the hashtag #OperationPanopticon.

Hackers tap into Verkada cameras, breach several businesses including Tesla

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