Cloudflare buys Human Native to reshape AI data deals

Cloudflare has acquired Human Native, a UK-based AI data marketplace that links content creators with AI developers looking for training and inference data.

Cloudflare said the deal adds a team focused on structuring original content into data that AI systems can discover and license. The company also said it wants more transparency around how AI companies access and pay for content.

Human Native launched in 2024. The company had backing from UK venture capital firms LocalGlobe and Mercuri. Cloudflare did not disclose the financial terms of the acquisition.

Creator choices

Cloudflare positioned the acquisition around the options content owners now face as demand grows for material used in AI systems. It said owners can block access, optimise content for AI systems, or offer content for purchase. Cloudflare said it plans to provide tools across those approaches.

Cloudflare already sells services that manage and secure internet traffic for publishers, platforms, and businesses. The company has also been developing products aimed at AI web crawling and the commercial use of content. It referred to tools such as AI Crawl Control and Pay Per Crawl in its announcement.

Matthew Prince, Co-Founder and CEO, Cloudflare, said the company sees content control as part of a wider shift in the economics of the web.

"Content creators deserve full control over their work, whether they want to write for humans or optimize for AI," said Matthew Prince, co-founder & CEO of Cloudflare.

Prince said Cloudflare had previously provided tools that let publishers and creators decide which bots can access their content.

"Last year we gave publishers and creators the tools to control which bots can access their content, but the real goal has always been to help create a new economic model that actually works for the next phase of the Internet," said Prince.

He said Human Native's team will contribute to new tooling for discovery, pricing, and transactions.

"The Human Native team will help us accelerate the next phase, where we build the tools that allow content to be discovered, priced, and purchased through transparent channels," said Prince.

Prince linked the effort to the long-term health of the public web.

"This acquisition is about building the tools needed to protect the longevity of the open Internet," said Prince.

Data marketplace

Human Native described its product as an infrastructure that connects publishers and creators with AI developers. Cloudflare said the team brings experience from companies including DeepMind, Google, Figma, and Bloomberg.

Cloudflare said Human Native's work centres on preparing content in a form that AI developers can find and access. It also said the marketplace approach creates a route for licensing and payment.

Dr James Smith, Co-Founder and CEO of Human Native, said the company formed around the idea of changing how generative AI uses creative work.

"We started Human Native with the goal of getting Generative AI out of its Napster era. We believe that creators should have control, compensation and credit when their work is used to power AI products, ensuring equitable compensation for rights holders while enabling responsible AI development," said Dr James Smith, Co-Founder and CEO, Human Native.

Smith said discussions with Cloudflare convinced him the companies share priorities.

"Our discussions with Cloudflare, from Matthew to the entire team, have shown us that our values could not be more aligned, we believe in the same mission and together we will have the opportunity to deliver solutions at Internet scale," said Smith.

Investor view

LocalGlobe partner Ziv Reichert said Human Native built infrastructure for data discovery and access. He also framed data quality as a differentiator in AI development.

"High-quality data is the key that unlocks real differentiation in AI," said Ziv Reichert, Partner at LocalGlobe.

Reichert said Human Native's founders created a system that connects AI teams and data owners.

"James and Jack Galilee have built the infrastructure that enables AI teams to discover and access valuable data across the internet, while allowing data owners to surface, price, and monetise it seamlessly," said Reichert.

Mercuri Founding General Partner Alan Hudson said the firm invested because it saw a gap in how creators get paid for data used in AI.

"At Mercuri, we invest at the intersection of media and AI, and Human Native has embodied this thesis from the outset," said Alan Hudson, Founding General Partner, Mercuri.

Hudson said the firm's view has strengthened as the market has developed.

"When we first invested two years ago, we believed there was a clear need to reward creators fairly for their data and to enable AI to progress with high-quality, ethically sourced data. Our conviction around these principles has only grown stronger in today's market," said Hudson.

"We are now excited to see how the Human Native team continues on this mission in partnership with Cloudflare," Hudson added.