Report by Fastly

The AI Speed Tax

10 FINDINGSPublished Feb 25, 2026
View Original Report →

Key Findings

40% of organizations have faced operational disruption as a result of AI activity.

FastlyThe AI Speed Tax·5mo ago
Operational DisruptionAI Activity

The financial cost of a cybersecurity incident for AI-first businesses exceeds the cost for non-AI-first businesses by more than 135%.

FastlyThe AI Speed Tax·5mo ago
Cybersecurity CostsAI SecurityFinancial ImpactAI-First Business

44% of AI-first organizations report that AI was directly exploited in their most recent security incident, compared to 6% of non-AI-first organizations.

FastlyThe AI Speed Tax·5mo ago
AI CompromiseIncident ExploitationAI-First Business

64% of organizations report that AI scraping has become a material cost center, with average annual infrastructure impacts exceeding $348,000.

FastlyThe AI Speed Tax·5mo ago
AI ScrapingInfrastructure CostsOperational Costs

43% of organizations have seen infrastructure expenses increase as a direct result of AI activity.

FastlyThe AI Speed Tax·5mo ago
Infrastructure CostsAI ActivityOperational Impact

53% of organizations acknowledge they have an increased need for AI-specific security expertise to effectively defend their systems.

FastlyThe AI Speed Tax·5mo ago
AI SecurityWorkforce SkillsAI Cybersecurity Expertise

75% of organizations are concerned about Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks targeting AI agents.

FastlyThe AI Speed Tax·5mo ago
DDoSAI SecurityAgentic AI

AI-first businesses take nearly seven months on average to fully recover from cybersecurity incidents, which is 80 days longer than non-AI-first businesses.

FastlyThe AI Speed Tax·5mo ago
Incident RecoveryAI SecurityAI-First Business

34% of AI-first organizations say AI use led to a security oversight or blind spot that contributed to their last security incident, compared to 20% for non-AI-first organizations.

FastlyThe AI Speed Tax·5mo ago
Security OversightAI SecurityVisibilityAI-First Business

56% of organizations invest in agentic discoverability, 55% invest in API security, and 54% invest in web application firewalls.

FastlyThe AI Speed Tax·5mo ago
API SecurityWeb Application FirewallAgentic DiscoverabilitySecurity InvestmentBudget