For years, a “gentleman’s agreement” on the web allowed good bots like Googlebot to identify themselves clearly, while bad bots masqueraded to scrape content or launch attacks. However, advancements in generative AI have led to a blurring of these lines. Recent reports reveal AI agents, such as Perplexity AI, are now using deceptive tactics to bypass publisher defenses, leading to increased conflict. For instance, requests from a bot called Grok appeared as ordinary users, employing varied user agent strings and distributed fetching methods that mimic malicious behavior. This shift complicates website security, making user agent-based defenses ineffective. To combat this problem, an AI model like Bernoulli scores and classifies traffic behaviors. The breakdown of web protocols necessitates a return to standards like Web Bot Auth, which can help restore clarity in distinguishing between legitimate AI interactions and malicious scrapers. Explore best practices for navigating AI agent traffic in “The Guide to Readying Your Business for Agentic Commerce.”
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