A large-scale analysis by Ahrefs, a leading SEO and web analytics platform, has revealed that 74.2% of newly created web pages in April 2025 contained content generated—at least in part—by artificial intelligence. The research used an in-house content detector developed by Ahrefs’ machine learning team, called bot_or_not, analyzing a sample of 900,000 unique English-language web pages. This detector was created specifically to pinpoint the distinctive characteristics of generative Artificial Intelligence integration within digital content.
The study´s findings indicate that the internet’s content landscape is rapidly shifting. Only 2.5% of pages were classified as ‘pure artificial intelligence’ with negligible human edits, while 25.8% remained ‘pure human’ with no detectable Artificial Intelligence involvement. Most notably, 71.7% featured a hybrid approach—a collaboration of human and Artificial Intelligence authorship. Within these hybrid pages, 25.86% had moderate Artificial Intelligence input, 20.5% showed substantial use, and 15.51% were dominated by Artificial Intelligence-generated material. This shift reflects how content creators have seamlessly woven Artificial Intelligence tools into drafting, editing, and outlining processes, leveraging the technology to speed up workflows and maintain content velocity.
Driving this transformation is the ubiquity of generative Artificial Intelligence in everyday tools. Features powered by Artificial Intelligence are now integrated into platforms like Google Docs, Gmail, Slack, LinkedIn, and Grammarly, offering suggestions, rewriting content, and summarizing information. Ahrefs also surveyed 879 content marketers, revealing that 87% actively use Artificial Intelligence for content creation, especially for blog posts. The proliferation of Artificial Intelligence-generated web content raises concerns about content saturation, originality, and credibility, presenting challenges for both search engines and readers in discerning information quality and authenticity.
Ahrefs’ new bot_or_not detector, set to be integrated into their Site Explorer’s Page Inspect tool, aims to provide transparency for content creators and SEO specialists. Although no detector can guarantee perfect accuracy, these tools help benchmark Artificial Intelligence usage and inform content strategies. With the baseline for digital publishing now established on Artificial Intelligence-assisted workflows, the study underscores the need for transparency and strategic collaboration between human creators and Artificial Intelligence systems to maintain quality and trust in the evolving digital landscape.
