Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) and Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:SPCX) CEO Elon Musk says AI agents could eventually generate vastly more internet traffic than humans, but investor Michael Burry has some questions.
Elon Musk Backs AI Traffic Explosion
On Sunday, Musk highlighted Cloudflare Inc. (NYSE:NET) executives’ projections that machine-generated internet traffic could eventually dwarf human activity.
Musk said AI-driven, or "agentic," internet traffic will "obviously VASTLY exceed human usage," adding that Cloudflare’s forecast is accurate.
Cloudflare had previously expected bot traffic to surpass human traffic in 2027, but the milestone arrived earlier than expected in 2026.
During the company’s second-quarter earnings call, Cloudflare CFO Thomas Seifert said the trend means humans could become a "rounding error" on the internet as non-human activity continues to accelerate.
Michael Burry Questions Who Will Pay For AI
Burry, the investor known for anticipating the 2008 financial crisis and featured in "The Big Short," responded to Musk’s post with a different question.
"This is a lower bar than most think, and we still do not know who will pay for AI agents to socialize," Burry wrote.
Burry has taken bearish positions in several companies tied to the AI infrastructure boom, including Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) and Palantir Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR).
AI Spending Raises Bubble Concerns
The debate comes as the world’s largest technology companies pour unprecedented amounts of money into AI infrastructure.
Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META), Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Oracle Corp. (NYSE:ORCL) are projected to spend roughly $800 billion combined on capital expenditures this year, with much of that investment going toward AI systems and data centers.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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