1. What are the “noai” and “noimageai” signals, and why do they matter?
We believe that creators control the rights to their content, including the right to determine when AI tools can train models based on that content. Although all AI training without permission from the content creator is legally and morally wrong, we realize that today, the best practical way for any of our creators to indicate their unwillingness to participate in blanket AI training is to incorporate the “noai” and “noimageai” meta tags pioneered by DeviantArt into the HTML markup of pages on their sites. Web crawlers and bots can read the “noai” and “noimageai” meta tags to recognize that you do not wish your content to be used to train AI models without your explicit consent. In addition, creators may opt to update their Terms of Service with model language (see below).
The “noai” and “noimageai” meta tag signals are intended for creators to opt out of having their content used for training AI models without their consent. If you’re unfamiliar with how generative AI systems like ChatGPT and Stable Diffusion may use your content for training, see our blog post here.
We want to make it easy for our creators to add these restrictions, convey their intent, and ultimately drive compliance with these signals by crawlers and AI companies.
Please note that these signals are not yet an industry standard, and we cannot guarantee that any or all bots will respect them. That said, we hope using these tags will hasten their adoption as a new standard and lessen the chances that AI systems train using your content without your consent.
2. Should I mark my content as unavailable for AI training without my consent?
As a content owner, that’s your decision. We believe in enabling creators to control their content and don’t have a position on whether any particular creator or piece of content should adopt a “noai” stance.
3. How can I add the “noai” signal to my site using the Raptive Ads WordPress plugin?
If you use the Raptive Ads plugin, check the NoAI Meta Tags checkbox on the configuration screen:
Checking the box will add the following meta tag to all pages:
<meta name=”robots” content=”noai, noimageai”>
We’ve based this meta tag on a proposal by DeviantArt. The “noai” value means you don’t want any content on the page to be used to train AIs without your explicit consent. The “noimageai” tag further reinforces that you don’t want any images on the page to be used to train AI models without your consent. This latter markup is arguably redundant, but we see no harm in being explicit to minimize misunderstanding of your intent.
4. How can I add the “noai” and “noimageai” signals to my site without using the Raptive Ads WordPress plugin?
Use your CMS to add this tag to the <head> section of any or all pages on your site:
<meta name=”robots” content=”noai, noimageai”>
5. Does adding the “noai” and “noimageai” signals affect my page or site performance?
It should not. The meta tag adds only a few dozen static bytes to your page size, and has no effect on the visible page. Nor should it affect your SEO, as the tags are not intended to exclude all crawling, for example, by search indexers.
6. How can I apply “noai” and/or “noimageai” signals only to certain pages on my site?
While the Raptive Ads WordPress plugin option lets you enable the “noai” and “noimageai” tags on a sitewide basis, you can use your CMS or another custom mechanism to insert this tag only on a subset of your pages if you so desire.
7. How can I remove the “noai” and “noimageai” signals from my site?
Remove the meta tag from your pages by unchecking the Raptive Ads WordPress plugin configuration checkbox if that’s how you enabled the signals or by removing any manually added meta tag(s) from your CMS.
8. Does adding the “noai” and/or “noimageai” tags remove my content from AI models that previously trained on my content?
Even to the extent companies respect the “noai” and/or “noimageai” tags, we do not expect they would apply retroactively to any content published before you included them on your pages.
9. How can I grant consent to a particular AI tool to train on some or all of my content?
You can manage this process any way you like.. The purpose of “noai” signaling is to notify parties of your intent to require consent to use your content for AI training. Over time we hope to see AI companies, content creators, and other stakeholders align on ways to enable these negotiations systematically and at scale.
10. Can I require licensing fees or other compensation to allow AI tools to train on my content?
In principle, yes, since the idea is for you to maintain control of how your content is used. In practice, we’re unaware of any successful attempt to accomplish this.
11. What text should I add to my terms of service, user agreement, or similar terms?
We recommend the following language:
The owner of this website does not consent to the content on this website being used or downloaded by any third parties for the purposes of developing, training or operating artificial intelligence or other machine learning systems (“Artificial Intelligence Purposes”), except as authorized by the owner in writing (including written electronic communication). Absent such consent, users of this website, including any third parties accessing the website through automated systems, are prohibited from using any of the content on the website for Artificial Intelligence Purposes. Users or automated systems that fail to respect these choices will be considered to have breached [these Terms of Service][this Agreement].
We have included on the pages of this website a robots meta tag with the "noai" or "noimageai" directive in the head section of the HTML page. Please note that even if such directives are not present on any web page or content file, this website still does not grant consent to use any content for Artificial Intelligence Purposes unless such consent is expressly contained.
(replace [these Terms of Service][this Agreement] with the title of your site’s page that contains your terms of service)
Read more in this blog post.
12. Is the “noai” or “noimageai” signal legally enforceable in conjunction with the Terms of Service?
The law in this area is not yet settled, but including language like this in your terms creates an argument that any user (including a person or company that directs a bot) that accesses your site for AI purposes is violating your terms and therefore breaching the contract that the user enters into when using the site. Note that Raptive cannot enforce this contract between you and the user. Any enforcement efforts would be up to you.