OpenAI Announces a Signal for Indicating Preferences About AI Training

On October 30, 2026, OpenAI announced plans to respect a common signal that websites can use to express preferences about using their content to train generative AI. The initiative is voluntary, and OpenAI plans to implement it in the coming months. OpenAI

What robots.txt Means

robots.txt is a file that a website uses to communicate instructions to crawlers, programs that traverse web pages. The new signal would be included in this file to express a preference about AI training. It communicates a preference; it does not technically block content.

One Preference for Multiple Providers

The proposal builds on the work of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) AI Preferences group, an organization that develops technical standards for the internet. Sharing a signal would make it possible to communicate that preference without maintaining separate rules for each provider. OpenAI encourages other AI companies to respect it.

Future Implementation and Current Controls

OpenAI plans to implement the signal in the coming months and publish details about how it works then. In the meantime, its existing controls for crawlers in robots.txt will remain in effect: the new signal will supplement them, not replace them. OpenAI