Link: A pay-to-scrape AI licensing standard is now official

An official specification, Really Simple Licensing 1.0 (RSL), now allows publishers to set licensing terms for web crawlers. Companies like Yahoo and O'Reilly Media have endorsed the standard to ensure AI platforms fairly compensate for the content they use.

RSL extends the robots.txt protocol to enable content owners to block unlicensed AI systems, such as AI search features, while remaining visible in traditional searches. Cloudflare and Akamai, among others, provide the necessary support to enforce these restrictions.

Google, now under scrutiny by the European Commission for antitrust violations, does not allow publishers to withhold content from AI features without impacting their traditional search presence. RSL offers a nuanced control over content use, respecting publisher preferences at distinct operational levels.

More than 1,500 media entities support RSL, including major publishers like The Associated Press and Vox Media. This widespread backing makes RSL a potent tool for establishing content usage norms in AI environments.

The RSL Collective has partnered with Creative Commons to introduce a payment model for contributors of free web content, enhancing support for nonprofit entities. This collaboration helps maintain a robust pool of freely accessible resources.

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Yoooo, this is a quick note on a link that made me go, WTF? Find all past links here.