A cloud company bets its future customers will be AI programs, not people

A cloud computing company called Quake AI is betting that most of its future customers will be AI programs acting for people, not people themselves. It is building its services so those programs can find and use them directly. The company admits the idea is a little crazy, but says it is grounded in engineering.

Who Quake AI is

Quake AI was formed after US-based Rumble Inc bought German datacenter operator Northern Data in June. The parent company was renamed RUM Group. It now holds both Quake AI and the Rumble video platform. Quake AI runs about 22,000 Nvidia GPUs, the chips that power AI work. That makes it a neocloud, a company that rents out computing power built for AI.

The pizza test

John Hoffman, acting CEO of Quake AI, described an AI tool he was shown that browses the web on its own. He asked it for pizza. It went to DoorDash's website, typed pizza in the search box, picked a top-ranked result and added it to the order, remembering he likes pepperoni.

It worked, he said. But he called the computing power spent on making an AI act like a person looking at a screen "insanity" compared with a simple data link. Quake AI claims that approach would use one thousandth of the computing power.

What agents want, in its view

The key term is API. It is a set way for one piece of software to ask another for data directly, with no screens or buttons. Mike Massey, the CFO of RUM Group, argues that agents do not use vision. They work with APIs and raw information. He says dashboards and one-click settings, built for humans, may get in their way. Agents, he says, will want to buy computing like a utility.

The case for and against

There are signs of more bot traffic. TollBit, which tracks AI bot visits, found about one AI bot visit for every 31 human visits by the end of 2025. At the start of that year it was one for every 200.

The business side is shakier. McKinsey said last year that neoclouds must sell more than raw chips or risk competing only on price. Gartner forecast that AI services are unlikely to earn enough to cover expected spending on infrastructure through 2030, and that the market will consolidate.

What it means for you

If AI agents start ordering, shopping and booking for you, the apps you use may change. Businesses may need data links built for bots, not just good-looking websites. Hoffman said he imagines DoorDash is building an API for agents, but that was his guess. Quake AI's plan only works if many companies adopt the same idea.