BBC, Guardian, NYT Block OpenAI's GPTBot Amid Push for AI Data Licensing
Major news publishers including the BBC, The Guardian, and The New York Times have moved to restrict OpenAI's GPTBot from accessing their content for AI training purposes. The BBC and The Guardian have listed GPTBot as disallowed in their robots.txt files, while the NYT updated its terms of service in August 2023 to prohibit AI-related scraping without explicit permission. Reuters Institute research from 2023–2024 identified a broader cluster of leading outlets — including CNN, Reuters, ABC, and the Chicago Tribune — taking similar steps. The shift signals an industry-wide move toward formal data-rights governance, combining technical controls with contractual restrictions rather than relying on informal norms. For AI developers like OpenAI, the restrictions narrow access to web content and increase pressure to establish clear data provenance and licensing agreements.
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