Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2026. Read them in this 18th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.
By Simon Wistow, Co-Founder & VP of Strategic Initiatives, Fastly
AI is reshaping internet traffic in real-time. As large-language model (LLM) based apps like Gemini and ChatGPT fuel demand for content, they are straining networks with AI scraping and forcing companies to rethink how they can best protect their assets while continuing to reach their audiences. Whether it’s massive AI crawlers vacuuming up the web or AI fetchers delivering real-time answers, AI bots are fundamentally changing the way people interact with the internet. AI is also shifting business operations, introducing performance, cost, and security challenges that will dominate the conversation in 2026.
Looking ahead to the new year, three key AI themes will define the internet and business landscape. First, the relationship between digital publishers and AI companies will evolve into a necessary, symbiotic partnership. Second, agentic e-commerce will become more commonplace in people’s daily lives. Lastly, developer and security teams will closely collaborate to ensure the success of AI initiatives in their organization.
Publishers and AI crawlers will forge a new partnership to fuel an AI-powered internet
AI companies are looking for more ways to incorporate their tools into daily life, with much of that shift happening on the open web. AI crawlers continue to make up an ever increasing share of all web traffic, reshaping how the internet is accessed and experienced. Much like search engines, digital publishers need the AI companies to drive traffic, but worry about the loss of revenue from subscribers and advertising. AI crawlers need the content to build their models and also to power their Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) queries.
In 2026, publishers and AI crawlers will need to forge a new symbiotic partnership where both sides can co-exist. Publishers will work with AI companies to strike a balance between openness and control on the internet through licensing deals, content attribution and, in some cases, pay-per-query, encouraging a robust and open web ecosystem that benefits both publishers and creators.
Agentic e-commerce will become more commonplace, simplifying the online shopping experience
AI is reshaping not only the internet’s infrastructure but the ways people interact, shop, and create online. In 2026, agentic e-commerce, where users can instruct AI agents to compare, select, and purchase products with a single command, will move from novelty to mainstream, bypassing traditional web navigation in favor of AI-guided transactions. In order to adapt to changing user preferences, e-commerce companies will need to adapt their content to become more machine-readable for AI agents and provide methods for the agents to buy on behalf of the users. This ultimately will create more seamless and simplified online shopping experiences for consumers, moving us towards a reality in which AI can anticipate consumer needs, navigate different shopping options, and execute transactions, all while aligning with human intent.
AI success will hinge on developer and security team collaboration
As the race to develop and implement AI-powered tools continues in 2026, organizations that foster close collaboration between developer and security teams will come out ahead. Developer teams are under pressure to innovate and implement AI quickly, while security teams are tasked with identifying and fixing security issues before deployment. When developers and security professionals work in tandem from the early stages of AI model-based development, they can put proper safeguards in place and mitigate potential security gaps before they arise. This developer-security partnership model will result in a more secure and reliable AI ecosystem, where innovation and security go hand in hand.
The internet landscape will undergo a transformative period as AI continues to evolve and AI bots drive internet traffic. The challenges of AI scraping, meeting real-time data demands, and evolving user behaviors will push organizations to rethink how they want to deliver content and best engage with their audiences. This shift will require a collective effort between publishers, AI companies, and the infrastructure that supports them.
Ultimately, the AI-fueled internet will need to find the right balance between openness and control, and innovation and security. Those who can navigate these complexities will lead the way in shaping a more dynamic and intelligent web.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Simon is a co-founder at Fastly, where he helps lead strategic initiatives. Before founding Fastly, Simon was a senior search engineer at Yahoo! Europe, LiveJournal, SixApart, Scribd, and then at social help desk company Zendesk. In a past life, he worked on R&D for a leading VFX Company doing films like the Harry Potter series, Troy, Kingdom of Heaven, Sunshine, and Wallace and Gromit.
