CloudFlare announced a new tool on Tuesday that allows publishers to collect for AI bots that scratch the website.
This could prove to be a major change in the Internet’s functioning so far in the AI era – models often abandon and scratch the internet without permission, often annoyed to content owners. CloudFlare is the main infrastructure provider, which means that most of the internet will have access to this tool.
The Paid Per Crawl feature is part of Cloudflare’s announcement Tuesday, which is now the first internet infrastructure provider to “block content without permission or compensation from AI crawlers” by default. The tool is currently in Beta, allowing website owners to charge fees every time an AI bot wants to “crawl” its website for information.
Mixable light speed
The idea behind Cloudflare’s push is to restore power to the hands of people who make AI for training content. (Full Disclosure: Ziff Davis, who owns Mashable, is one of many publishers cited in the Cloudflare press release that supports a licensing approach to licensed AI bots.)
In the press release, Cloudflare was written:
“For decades, the Internet has been operating on simple exchanges: Search engines index content and return users directly to the original website, generating traffic and advertising revenue for websites of all sizes. This week, the cycle rewards creators of quality content with money and followers, while helping users discover new and relevant information. The model has been broken. Understand the satisfaction of someone being viewed with their content.”
We’ll see how it evolves, but the tool may be useful for people who create original content on the Internet.
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