The robots aren’t coming, they’re already here.
According to Lumen Technologies CEO Kate Johnson, AI bots now generate over half of all global internet traffic, a staggering milestone that most business leaders never saw coming.
In an open letter Monday, Johnson warned that companies must urgently rethink their network strategies as autonomous workers flood the web at unpredictable speeds and volumes.
“If it already comprises 50%, imagine what it’s going to look like in a year,” she said.
Lumen, which handles 65% of the world’s internet traffic, has been quietly preparing since Johnson took over in November 2022, the same month ChatGPT launched.
She’s since sold the company’s fiber business for $5.75 billion, partnered with Palantir, and deployed AI to detect threats like Chinese hacking group Salt Typhoon.
The message is clear: static network models are dead. Johnson argues that fighting AI with AI is the only way forward.
For CEOs still treating artificial intelligence as a future problem, the present just arrived.
