Patreon Blocks AI Crawlers From Copying Content: ‘Creators Deserve Compenstion’

Patreon has announced a new update that blocks AI crawlers from hoovering up content on the platform for training purposes. CEO Jack Conte took to Instagram last week to announce he has a “kickass product update for you all.”

“Patreon has partnered with an internet infrastructure company called Cloudflare to block AI training crawlers from using the work you publish on your Patreon to train their AI models,” the post reads.

“This is live and happening at the network level on all posts published on Patreon. Creators deserve credit, compensation, and consent. If that’s not on the table, the crawlers can stay the f*** off Patreon. The free internet is alive and happening. The rebellion has already started.”

Patreon is a platform that allows users to subscribe to creators and artists for a discretionary fee. Photographers use the platform to build an income by monetizing content like tutorials and building private community groups.

In a press statement, SVP of Product at Patreon, Drew Rowny, says that, “As AI agents become increasingly powerful and popular, creators deserve a meaningful say in how their work is used by AI companies. On most of the Internet, creators have to accept AI training on their work just to reach and grow an audience.”

“Patreon has a different vision,” he continues. “Creators should be able to grow their audience and control how their work is used. That’s why we’re building on our existing work with Cloudflare to block known AI training crawlers at the network level across Patreon, while still allowing the crawlers that help creators get discovered and grow their businesses through search.”

404 Media notes that Cloudflare committed last year to protecting content from AI crawlers by blocking agentic bots on new domains.

Conte is passionate about the rights of creators in an AI world, saying earlier this year that he is “both amazed and furious” with the technology.

“I’m amazed at the technology… But as a creator, I’m angry that we aren’t being paid for the value that we created for these models,” he says.

“Creators deserve consent, credit and compensation. Consent meaning, ‘Do I get to opt out of my work being used by these models as training data?’ Credit meaning, ‘If my work is used and you just replicate my whole vibe as an artist… do I get credit for that?’ And then compensation, meaning, ‘Do I get paid when that happens?’ Unfortunately, the answer to all three of these questions right now is a big fat ‘No’.”

For the last few years, any photographer who has put their work out on the internet can basically take it as read that an AI has used their work for the purposes of training a model.

Image creditsHeader photo licensed via Depositphotos.