Cloudflare is taking steps to block AI web crawlers in an effort to support online publishers. CEO Matthew Prince critiques the broken agreement between Google and content creators, arguing that AI firms utilize web content without proper compensation, which harms revenue for publishers. He emphasizes that the current AI-driven web does not provide fair rewards to content creators, contrasting with the previous search-driven model. There are concerns that AI crawlers are negatively impacting the traffic that websites receive, leading to financial struggles for content creators.
"The problem is whether you create content to sell ads, sell subscriptions, or just to know that people value what you've created, an AI-driven web doesn't reward content creators the way that the old search-driven web did."
"Cloudflare proposes an alternative interpretation of that role that's less self-serving: to help protect online publishers from the predation of AI firms."
"Cloudflare has started blocking AI web crawlers by default in a bid to become the internet's gatekeeper."
"The deal that Google made to take content in exchange for sending you traffic just doesn't make sense anymore."
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