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StatementMediaFrontierInternationalConfirmed

OpenAI, Google, Microsoft and Anthropic back one robots.txt opt-out from AI training

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Source: Google Search CentralAlso reported by The Verge, IETF Datatracker, OpenAI

Google said on 30 October 2026 that it will support a shared ‘policy token’ in robots.txt that lets a website opt out of AI training by participating providers in one step; when a site uses it to opt out and does not name Google-Extended, Google will treat it as a Google-Extended disallow. The token is set out in an IETF Internet-Draft by Anthropic’s Kevin Kelley, filed the same day through the AI Preferences working group. The Verge reports that OpenAI, Microsoft and Anthropic will also honour it: Anthropic already does, Google and Microsoft plan to start in 2027, and OpenAI says it will in the coming months. Meta said it supports a common signal but did not say whether it will honour it.

Why it matters

Publishers can refuse AI training by the largest model developers with one line in robots.txt, where each crawler needed its own rule until now, and Google says the method fits the EU GPAI Code of Practice’s reliance on robots.txt.

When
30 Oct 2026
ID
WTA-N-2026-0577
Who
Google, OpenAI, Microsoft, Anthropic, Meta, IETF; Kevin Kelley

Summary written with AI by wheresthe.ai, from Google Search Central and the reporting credited above. Checked against the source on 31 Oct 2026.

Read the original at Google Search Central

Source copy: saved on 31 Oct 2026 to check this story and not republished, because the text belongs to its publisher. Also held by the Internet Archive.

Next stop on this Storyline: Elsewhere: United StatesWikimedia Foundation takes middle position in NYT v OpenAI copyright case

Cite this story

WTA-N-2026-0577: “OpenAI, Google, Microsoft and Anthropic back one robots.txt opt-out from AI training.” wheresthe.ai, 30 Oct 2026. https://wheresthe.ai/d/intl-ai-labs-back-shared-robots-txt-ai-training-opt-out-2026-10/ (source: Google Search Central).

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