content rights - Adjacent

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Aug 15

OpenAI's Crawler Ignores Robots.txt Rules for Training Data

OpenAI is allowing its GPTBot to bypass robots.txt directives that publishers use to prevent automated access, treating the standard as advisory rather than binding. This escalates friction between AI labs and content creators. Publishers lack technical recourse to stop training scrapes and must rely on legal action, shifting power to AI infrastructure companies that can unilaterally decide which rules apply to them.

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Jun 26

Google demands broad content rights from publishers testing AI features

Source: The Information

Google is conditioning access to its AI-powered Google News features on publishers surrendering rights to their content for model training. This reverses the traditional negotiating position where publishers once controlled distribution. Instead of paying for content or licensing it, Google extracts value by making algorithmic amplification conditional on content ownership, effectively commodifying editorial work. Smaller publishers lack alternatives to reach audiences at scale, leaving them exposed to unfavorable terms as AI infrastructure becomes a gating mechanism for distribution.