More than half of all web content requests now come from bots, with AI-driven automation fueling a surge in traffic, according to a report by SiliconAngle.
The F5 2025 Advanced Persistent Bots Report, based on an analysis of 207 billion web transactions, attributes much of this growth to large language model (LLM) scrapers from companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Perplexity AI. While some automated activity is harmless, 4.8% of total transactions were classified as malicious bot traffic, targeting industries like hospitality (44.6%), healthcare (32.6%), and e-commerce (22.7%). F5 Labs Director David Warburton noted that bots have evolved beyond simple search queries, now engaging in persistent data scraping and login abuse. Credential stuffing remains a major threat, especially in the tech sector, where 33.5% of logins were flagged as account takeovers. Despite these risks, the report found an overall decline in bot activity across most industries, suggesting that enhanced security measures are effectively mitigating automated threats.
