OpenAI, Google, Microsoft and Anthropic to honor shared robots.txt token for AI training opt-out
Four major AI companies, OpenAI, Google, Microsoft and Anthropic, have agreed to respect a single shared token in robots.txt that lets publishers opt their content out of AI training. The token, __usage_ai-training, is defined in an early-stage IETF individual draft authored by Anthropic's Kevin Kelley and has not been adopted as a formal standard. Rollout timelines differ: Anthropic reportedly already honors the token, while Microsoft and Google are reported to begin support in 2027, according to press reports rather than primary company materials. The signal is voluntary and expresses a preference without creating an enforcement mechanism, and it covers training use specifically rather than search indexing or real-time retrieval. Existing robots.txt rules remain in place, and the token does not guarantee exclusion from training.
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