Fastly CEO plots course through AI and security

Fastly’s mission is to make the internet a better place for all experiences: fast, safe, and engaging, according to Kip Compton, who joined the company as Chief Product Officer in January 2024 before being promoted to Chief Executive Officer in June this year.

Fastly was founded by Artur Bergman to enable content delivery networks (CDNs) to handle unpredictable updates, and this became the foundation of Fastly.

Over time, security issues such as distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks came to the fore. To protect the delivery of applications, content, and application programming interfaces (APIs), Fastly added security to its platform, which has since become the fastest-growing part of its business.

Another issue was the trade-off between speed and user experience. While caching supported fast internet experiences, it became jarring for users to visit an e-commerce site without getting a personalized experience.

In response, Fastly created an edge compute capability for personalization to be delivered without sacrificing performance.

“Our mission has built up as the company focused on delivering great experiences and what constitutes a great experience,” said Compton.

The platform strategy

While security is Fastly’s fastest-growing business, its CDN remains a major entry point for new customers. “All of our services run on a unified global platform, so everything works together seamlessly,” said Compton. Many customers now start with security and later expand into CDN or compute, benefiting from the consistency across the platform.

According to Mike Shaver, VP of Security Products Engineering, this unified approach sets Fastly apart. “Our delivery, compute, and security products can be mixed and matched — all secured the same way through our WAF, DDoS protection, or AI bot management,” he explained. Built on open web standards like HTTP, JavaScript, and WebAssembly, Fastly’s platform allows developers to integrate easily and apply the same knowledge across its services.

Shaver added that Fastly’s observability is equally flexible: “You can use our dashboard for full visibility or export the data to your preferred observability system.”

AI, bots, and the battle for content

A growing industry concern is the balance between training large language models (LLMs) and protecting intellectual property. Compton said the topic now surfaces in nearly every customer meeting. Companies with high-value content want Fastly to help them understand which bots are visiting their sites, why they’re there, and to control or monetise that access.

“There’s a big difference between scraping for training data and fetching for real-time responses,” Compton explained. “Many customers are looking to monetize those differently.”

The traditional ad-supported model worked with search engines that drove clicks to publishers’ sites — but it breaks down when LLMs deliver information directly, bypassing content owners. Fastly’s AI bot mitigation service, paired with its partnership with TollBit, helps publishers regain visibility and explore new monetization models.

According to Mike Shaver, VP of Security Products Engineering, the surge in AI scraping bots caught many off guard. “Six months ago, AI bot management wasn’t even on most CISOs’ agendas,” he said. Now, organizations are struggling to decide what content should be accessible for AI training and what must be protected.

This is where Fastly’s “traffic classification engine” provides that control — distinguishing between human users, helpful bots, and adversarial ones. “Retailers want shoppers to get through but not competitors scraping inventory,” Shaver noted. “Navigating those grey areas will take more work.”

Ultimately, AI increases the value of content, but a sustainable model for creators is essential. “Laws and conventions will lag behind the technology,” Compton said. “This needs to be addressed at a societal and political level — without a model for content creation, it’s hard to see how culture can be sustained.”

Path to profitability

Compton also addressed the company’s decision in 2023 to reduce its headcount by about 11%, a move made before his tenure as CEO began.

“That was a tough decision, but something that was needed,” he said. “It allowed us to take a close look at our organisation, teams and investments, and align them with what our customers really wanted from us.”

Compton said this discipline, combined with business growth, recently allowed Fastly to guide the market that it would be free cash flow positive for the fiscal year – “an important milestone on our path to profitability”.

Asked about future growth, he said acquisitions will continue to play a role, balanced with in-house development and partnerships. However, he expects future deals are more likely to be smaller, “tuck-in” acquisitions rather than large-scale mergers.

Focus on APAC

Compton pointed to the company’s increased focus on the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, including the recent appointment of a Singapore-based APAC leader, Nicola Gerber.

He suggested Fastly had not previously resourced the region to its full potential. “We’re bringing in more leadership and more focus on the region in general, and certainly in Australia and New Zealand,” said Compton. “These have been key markets for us.

“We see a lot of opportunity here, and I’m excited about some of the changes we’re making to increase our focus in the region.

The internet is evolving fast — from AI-driven content challenges to the next wave of security innovation. Learn how Fastly’s unified platform is helping organizations stay secure, scalable, and ready for what’s next. Discover Fastly’s platform →