Patreon, the membership platform for creators, is taking direct action against AI bots that scrape its content for training purposes. The company announced it is working with Cloudflare to block access to AI training bots, marking a shift from earlier requests for compliance with robots.txt files. This change comes as AI scraping has become more sophisticated since Patreon first implemented measures to deter crawlers in 2023.
Cloudflare now offers tools that let website publishers restrict AI bots, including a marketplace where sites can charge AI crawlers for scraping, called Pay Per Crawl. Patreon is extending its existing collaboration with Cloudflare to use AI Crawl Control technology to update its AI policies and enforcement tools. The company said it is actively blocking AI training bots instead of merely asking them to comply with robots.txt instructions. Testing showed that AI training crawlers’ weekly attempts to access Patreon dropped from thousands to zero, indicating they were ignoring the robots.txt file.
Patreon’s product chief, Drew Rowny, emphasized that creators should have control over how their work is used by AI companies. "As AI agents become increasingly powerful and popular, creators deserve a meaningful say in how their work is used by AI companies," Rowny stated. Patreon aims to provide creators with the ability to grow their audience while maintaining control over their content. The company’s approach contrasts with the broader internet, where creators often have little control over AI training on their work.
Source: techcrunch
