Cloudflare has announced the acquisition of Human Native, an AI data marketplace that connects content creators with AI developers, in a move aimed at strengthening the availability of high-quality, AI-ready data while enabling a fair and transparent value exchange in the AI era.
The acquisition is expected to make it easier for AI companies to discover and access reliable content for training and inference, while allowing creators and publishers to better control, price and monetise their original work. With Human Native joining Cloudflare, the company plans to accelerate its vision of building a sustainable, AI-driven Internet economy where original content can be transformed into structured, indexable and valuable data.
Matthew Prince, Co-founder & CEO, Cloudflare
As demand for high-quality data grows alongside the rapid expansion of AI, content owners are increasingly faced with choices around how their work is used. These range from blocking AI access entirely, to optimising content for AI systems, or offering it for purchase at a fair value. Cloudflare said it is committed to supporting all these paths by providing creators with the tools they need to manage and protect their content, while also enabling responsible AI development.
Matthew Prince, Co-Founder and CEO, Cloudflare, said the acquisition builds on the company’s efforts to give publishers greater control over how bots interact with their content. He added that the larger goal is to establish a new economic model for the Internet, one that allows content to be discovered, priced and purchased through transparent channels, ensuring the long-term health of the open web.
Founded in 2024 and backed by UK-based venture capital firms LocalGlobe and Mercuri, Human Native was created to foster a more equitable relationship between AI companies and content creators. The team brings experience from organisations such as DeepMind, Google, Figma and Bloomberg, which Cloudflare said will help it develop tools that allow creators to structure and monetise their content more effectively for AI use.
Dr. James Smith, Co-Founder and CEO, Human Native, said the company was built with the goal of moving generative AI away from unregulated content usage and toward a model where creators receive control, credit and compensation for their work. He noted that the shared values between Human Native and Cloudflare make the partnership well positioned to deliver solutions at Internet scale.
Industry investors also highlighted the importance of ethically sourced, high-quality data in driving meaningful AI innovation. They noted that Human Native’s infrastructure enables AI teams to access valuable data while allowing creators to surface, price and monetise their content seamlessly.
Through this acquisition, Cloudflare aims to deepen its role at the intersection of AI, content and infrastructure, helping balance innovation with fairness while shaping the next phase of the Internet.
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