Websites can now opt out of being tracked by Google Bard or any future AI models developed by Google. Google released this update last week, along with a new tool called Google-Extended.
Indexed By Web Crawlers
It allows websites to be indexed by web crawlers (the bots that create search engine entries) while maintaining control over their data to prevent it from being used to train future AI models.
Implementing this opt-out is simple for website administrators, and it is accomplished through the robots.txt file, which governs web crawler access to websites.
Danielle Romain, Company’s VP
Danielle Romain, the company’s VP of Trust, stated in a statement that Google has heeded feedback from web publishers who want more choice and control over how their content is used for emerging generative AI applications.
Romain further explained, “By using Google Extended to control access to content on a site, a website administrator can choose whether to help these AI models become more accurate and capable over time.”
OpenAI, the ChatGPT developer, recently introduced its own web crawler but also provided instructions on how to prevent it from accessing specific websites.
Notably, publications like Medium, the New York Times, CNN, and Reuters have taken steps to prevent OpenAI’s crawler from running.
Google’s Bard quickly became a competitor to ChatGPT, despite issues such as data leaks and inaccurate results.
Nonetheless, the AI model has improved since its initial release, most recently introducing several extensions and enhanced ways to effectively leverage Bard.
To read our blog on “Meta to bring ChatGPT like AI chatbot for its SM platforms,” click here
