TLDR: India has emerged as the leader in AI bot activity across the Asia-Pacific region, contributing to a global surge of 300% in automated traffic over the past year. This increase, largely driven by content scraping, is significantly impacting digital operations, analytics, and ad revenues across various industries.
A recent report from cybersecurity and cloud computing company Akamai Technologies reveals that India is at the forefront of AI bot activity within the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. The report, published on November 5, 2025, highlights a staggering 300% increase in automated traffic globally over the past year, with India being a significant contributor to this surge.
According to Akamai’s findings, AI bots generated an astounding 3.2 billion triggers in India, positioning the country as the most targeted in the APAC region, followed by Japan and China. This alarming spike in automated traffic is largely driven by AI-powered bots targeting websites across all industries. These bots generate billions of requests, significantly distorting digital operations and analytics, and currently account for nearly 1% of the total bot traffic observed on Akamai’s platform.
The primary cause for this surge is identified as content scraping, a practice that undermines traditional web-based business models, publisher analytics, and crucial ad revenue. As bot traffic continues to grow, content-driven businesses are experiencing corrupted analytics and a decline in ad revenues, as bots extract value without contributing in return.
The report further details the impact of malicious bots, including ‘FraudGPT,’ ‘WormGPT,’ ad fraud bots, and return fraud bots, which are escalating operational costs, degrading site performance, and skewing key performance metrics. While the commerce industry leads in overall AI bot activity, registering over 25 billion bot requests during a two-month observation period, the publishing sector has faced the most substantial impact within the digital media industry, accounting for 63% of AI bot triggers. In the healthcare sector, more than 90% of AI bot triggers are attributed to scraping activities, primarily by search and training bots.
Complementing these findings, a separate report by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), released on November 3, 2025, indicates that India also boasts the highest AI adoption rate in the Asia Pacific region at 92%, which is 20 points above the global average. Nipun Kalra, India Leader at BCG, commented on this trend, stating, “India’s AI adoption rate, the highest in Asia Pacific, signals not just enthusiasm but readiness for the next phase of transformation. What’s unique about India’s journey is the confidence of its workforce and the strength of its leadership engagement, with 58 per cent of frontline employees receiving clear guidance on AI use, nearly double the regional average, creating fertile ground for scaled, responsible innovation.”
Kalra further added, “The report offers a clear view of how organisations can move from experimenting with AI to truly reimagining their operating models. For India and the region, the opportunity now is to design this transformation deliberately, building governance, skills, and structures that turn AI’s promise into measurable enterprise and economic value.” Despite the widespread adoption and positive sentiment (60% of APAC employees feel positive about AI’s impact compared to 52% globally), there is also a significant concern, with 52% of employees in APAC fearing job loss due to AI.
Also Read:
- India Leads Asia-Pacific with 92% AI Adoption Rate, Driven by Confident Workforce and Strategic Leadership
- Indian Enterprises Rapidly Adopt AI for Cybersecurity, Fortinet-IDC Survey Reveals 94% Integration
These reports collectively paint a picture of India as a dynamic hub for AI activity, both in terms of adoption and the challenges posed by automated traffic, underscoring the urgent need for robust cybersecurity measures and strategic AI integration.
