Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE: NET), the leading cloud connectivity company, has announced the launch of AI Audit, a set of tools designed for content creators to regain control over how artificial intelligence (AI) bots access their content. This is the first large-scale solution that enables website owners, from large enterprises to small creators, to analyze and effectively manage the use of their content by AI models. Additionally, Cloudflare is developing a new feature for content creators to set a fair price for the use of their material in training and augmented content generation (RAG) by AI companies.
Oftentimes, website owners, from media outlets to small personal pages, are unaware that their content is being scanned thousands of times a day by AI bots without their consent or financial compensation. This phenomenon represents a significant loss of value, both for large companies and small creators. With AI Audit, Cloudflare aims to give content creators the ability to understand how their material is being used and, more importantly, to take control of this process.
The power to regain control of content
According to Matthew Prince, co-founder and CEO of Cloudflare, “AI will radically transform online content, and we all must decide together what that future will look like. Content creators deserve to have control over their material. If they don’t, the quality of information on the internet will deteriorate or become locked behind paywalls.”
AI Audit offers several key tools to achieve this control:
- Automatic control of AI bots, for free: Website owners can block all AI bots automatically with a single click, reclaiming control over their content. This is crucial for those who do not have the resources or technical ability to manually manage access to their data.
- Analysis of AI bot access: Cloudflare users will be able to access detailed analytics that allow them to understand when, how, and why AI bots are accessing their websites. This information will enable differentiation between bots that use data ethically, citing sources, and those that collect it without attribution.
- Rights protection in negotiations with AI providers: Cloudflare will assist content creators in negotiating agreements with AI model providers using their content for training and content generation, providing advanced metrics to understand how their pages are accessed and which parts are most valuable.
- Establishment of a fair price for content: In the future, Cloudflare will facilitate price negotiations for content usage, allowing both large creators and small websites to receive adequate compensation without engaging in complex individual negotiations.
With these tools, Cloudflare aims to foster a more transparent and equitable relationship between content creators and AI companies. Starting today, Cloudflare customers can already access these tools from their account control panel, and those interested in testing pricing capabilities can join a waiting list on the company’s website.
This new initiative from Cloudflare promises to transform the way content creators protect and monetize their content, marking an important step towards a more fair and balanced digital ecosystem.