Cloudflare allows websites to block AI scraping and can make bots pay access.

Cloudflare now offers the ability to block all AI bots with a single click. More features are coming in the future.

Cloudflare, according to a blog spotted by Ars Technica and a new Cloudflare service, has enabled a host of tools that can be used to better manage AI concerns from the sites they support.

The three main AI functions are divided into "AI Audit". Cloudflare users have the ability to control bots accessing websites. In the blog, it stated: "Many smaller sites do not have the bandwidth or skills to manually block AI Bots." Content creators can take back control of their content with the ability to block AI bots with just one click.

This new system not only allows site owners to block bots that they deem inappropriate, but it also helps them differentiate between 'good and bad' bots. Second, site owners can now get a better feed from AI analytics, such as being able to see how many AI bots are crawling their site and which AI uses their page.

These in-depth analyses allow users to better negotiate with AI bot owners about access to the website.

Website owners can now sell access to AI crawlers directly, even though the tool is not yet live. It can set prices and pay for people who access the site in mass. Cloudflare allows you to monitor the first two actions right now, but the third action will be available in the future. You can sign up for a waiting list to get notified when it becomes available.

Matthew Prince, Cloudflare's CEO and cofounder, makes a compelling argument in his blog for the inclusion these AI monitoring tools. Prince discusses the effects of this on both readers and creators. Sites are increasingly concerned about their work being stolen without credit and then boosted higher in search results.

Prince says that content creators and website owners, regardless of size, deserve to own their content and have control over it. If they don't do this, the quality of information online will deteriorate and be locked behind paywalls.

If only AI bots pay for those paywalls it could disincentivise mass generative AI theft online. AI Audit is a new tool that has just been launched, but it can offer better protections to site owners. This will be especially true when the price-setting feature arrives.