A new State of the Internet (SOTI) report released by Akamai Technologies highlights a rapid and concerning rise in AI-powered bot activity across global digital ecosystems. According to the Digital Fraud and Abuse Report 2025, automated traffic generated by AI bots has surged by 300% within the past year, significantly impacting website security, user analytics, and business operations.
The report shows that the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region ranks second in the world for AI bot activity, accounting for 20.2% of global automated traffic. Within the region, India recorded the highest number of AI bot triggers, with 3.2 billion detected requests, followed by Japan (2.8B), China (1.7B), and Singapore (899M).
APAC experienced over 10.5 billion AI bot triggers during the study period (1 July 2025 – 31 August 2025), highlighting the scale of automated web requests targeting online platforms, applications, and digital commerce businesses.
AI Bots Disrupting Digital Business Models
The rise in AI-driven web scraping and automated data extraction is causing major challenges for e-commerce platforms, digital media companies, and online service providers. These bots distort website traffic metrics, inflate web traffic costs, and can reduce revenue by:
- Scraping premium or exclusive content
- Manipulating advertising performance data
- Creating fake user interactions
- Facilitating fraud and impersonation schemes
In APAC, the commerce sector was the primary target, representing 47% of all AI bot activity, with retail standing out as the most impacted sub-sector.
Key APAC Insights from the Akamai Report
- APAC Global Rank: 2nd-highest AI bot activity region (20.2% globally)
- Top Target Countries: India (3.2B), Japan (2.8B), China (1.7B), Singapore (899M)
- Primary Industry Impacted: Commerce (47%), led by retail
- Type of Bot Activity: 73.7% classified as training bots, used for AI model data collection
- Regional Response Strategy: APAC organizations monitored 98.6% of bot traffic rather than blocking it
The report notes that APAC businesses are adopting a “monitor-first” approach, choosing to observe bot behavior rather than aggressively filtering it. This reflects a strategic balancing act: while malicious bots pose cybersecurity risks, some legitimate AI bots assist with:
- Search engine discovery
- Content visibility inside AI tools
- Site indexing and product discovery
Akamai also observes that AI-enabled cyber tools have lowered the barrier to entry for cybercriminals. Threat actors now easily deploy bots to:
- Launch impersonation campaigns
- Conduct credential stuffing and account takeover attacks
- Generate deepfake IDs and fake documents
- Scale phishing and malware distribution
This trend complicates fraud prevention, identity verification, and trust and safety operations across digital platforms.
“AI automation is expanding faster than many businesses in Asia-Pacific can adapt, and AI bots now account for a significant share of online traffic. Organizations must strike the right balance—allowing beneficial automation while preventing data misuse and loss of digital trust,” said Reuben Koh, Director of Security Technology and Strategy, Akamai.
The 2025 SOTI report emphasizes that AI-driven automation is reshaping the cybersecurity threat landscape. As AI bots continue to grow in scale and sophistication, organizations across APAC must adopt new security frameworks, improve bot detection strategies, and reinforce cyber resilience to safeguard digital assets and maintain trustworthy user experiences.
