WTF are gray bots?

A new category of bots is quietly becoming one of the biggest forces reshaping the web: gray bots.

They’re not yet a household name like “generative AI” or “AI agents,” but gray bots are already far beyond niche. Experts see the growing wave as an urgent challenge for the digital economy. Recent cybersecurity reports show some websites are seeing millions of scraper bot requests each month largely tied to generative AI activity. Others are noticing AI crawlers are driving more general invalid traffic and GIVT-related ad request volumes.

Gray bots present a paradox. They fuel innovation for AI search ChatGPT and Perplexity, large language models and emerging use cases like automated browsing and shopping. They also strain digital infrastructures, distort website and ad analytics, and extract value without consent. Their rise also will shake up how publishers, advertising, creators and e-commerce companies adapt to an internet increasingly built for non-human traffic.

Continue reading this article on digiday.com. Sign up for Digiday newsletters to get the latest on media, marketing and the future of TV.