RSL 1.0 Lets Publishers Set Licensing Terms and Prices for AI Crawlers
Rather than simply blocking AI crawlers, publishers can now use Really Simple Licensing (RSL) to specify what AI companies owe them for using their content. RSL 1.0 launched in December 2025 with roughly 1,500 publishers on board, including Reddit, Medium, Quora, and O'Reilly. The format uses plain XML to declare which uses are permitted or prohibited and at what price per crawl token. Publishers can distribute their RSL document through six channels — including robots.txt, HTTP headers, and a canonical /.well-known/rsl.xml path — to ensure different crawlers find it. A common pitfall is an incorrect XML namespace, which causes parsers to silently ignore the document without surfacing any error to the publisher.
This is an AI-generated summary. ShortSingh links to the original source for the complete article.
Discussion (0)
Log in to join the discussion and vote.
Log in