Cloudflare has introduced a new tool, AI Audit, that will allow website owners to monitor how their content is being used by AI bots and either block them from accessing their information or set a price for its use.
Image source: Copilot
Cloudflare previously introduced a tool that simply prevented the collection of text and images for AI training — scraping. Now, as reported by SiliconANGLE, the company has announced an expansion of its functionality by releasing AI Audit — a tool that provides a set of capabilities to help analyze the actions of AI bots and monetize content.
Scraping text and images has become common practice in the AI industry, as the internet provides a vast amount of content that can be used to train models. However, it is controversial, as many publishers believe that such actions are unfair, especially when they are unaware that their content is being (essentially illegally) used. However, leading AI companies such as OpenAI, Google, Meta, Stability AI, IBM, and Microsoft openly admit to using publishers’ content, citing the “fair use” doctrine.
However, critics argue that scraping will negatively impact publishers by causing them to lose traffic and potential revenue. For example, a recipe site could lose a significant portion of its audience to chatbots that use its content to answer user queries. If a user gets information from an AI, they are unlikely to be motivated to visit the site itself, even if it is listed as the source.
Some publishers have already begun blocking AI access to their properties. For example, last month The New York Times and CNN officially blocked OpenAI’s GPTBot. Meanwhile, other sites, like Reddit, offer paid access to their content through APIs that allow AI companies to pay for data usage.
Cloudflare aims to empower all website owners to control how their content is used. AI Audit, which includes a feature to block access to any AI bots and analytics, is designed to provide transparency between content creators and AI developers. The tool will help determine when, how often, and why AI models access website pages, as well as record bots that indicate the source of data and those that do not.
AI Audit will also help site owners determine a fair price for access to content based on market rates set by large publishers like Reddit. Cloudflare says this is necessary because many smaller sites don’t have the resources or expertise to price their content and negotiate with AI companies. The companies also don’t have the capacity to negotiate individual agreements with each of the millions of sites.
“If content creators don’t have this kind of control, the quality of online information will degrade or become subscription-based,” said Matthew Prince, Cloudflare co-founder and CEO. “With Cloudflare’s scale and global infrastructure, we can provide the tools and set standards that give websites, publishers, and content creators control and fair compensation for their contributions to the internet, while allowing AI model providers to continue to innovate.”
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Source: 3dnews.ru
