Google Adopts New AI Training Control

Google announced it plans to voluntarily adopt an IETF AIPREF draft proposal that would let publishers express AI training preferences across multiple AI providers through a single shared "policy token" in robots.txt, with implementation targeted for 2027. Google Search Advocate John Mueller wrote that when a site uses the token to opt out of training and Google-Extended is not explicitly specified, Google plans to interpret that as if the publisher had disallowed Google-Extended, while existing company-specific controls such as Google-Extended continue to function alongside the joint signal. Google said the proposal is consistent with the EU Code of Practice for General Purpose AI (GPAI) Model Providers under the EU AI Act, which recognizes robots.txt as a primary method for publishers to express machine-readable preferences.

Google also announced https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2026/10/ai-training-control , like Bing https://www.seroundtable.com/microsoft-bing-ai-controls-42429.html , OpenAI https://openai.com/index/helping-websites-express-ai-training-preferences/ and Anthropic https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/msg/ai-control/mddjatOxSR0h6GmLRBWlc839c7w/ , that it plans to voluntarily adopt a proposal under consideration at IETF https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-kelley-aipref-training-preference-signal/ , the global internet standard-setting body, that would create a simple, streamlined AI training control for web publishers and creators. Google said, "This will help websites express their AI training preferences across multiple AI providers in a single step and is based on work from the AIPREF working group at the Internet Engineering Task Force IETF ." This new, work-in-progress control will give websites and publishers a new way to communicate their AI training preferences across multiple AI providers. This lets them invoke their preferences in a single step in robots.txt, instead of listing each one individually. Google plans to implement this in 2027. Google told me "moving forward with this initiative alongside peer AI providers as part of a shared commitment to foster an open, creator-first web ecosystem, and following feedback from publishers, civil society and regulators calling for an easier way for websites to express their AI training preferences." Instead of managing separate instructions for every AI developer, website owners will be able to use a shared 'policy token' within robots.txt to set broad preferences across participating AI providers. Keep in mind, Google also has the Search Console opt out method https://www.seroundtable.com/google-ai-performance-report-blocking-controls-41443.html for Search generative AI. John Mueller, Google Search Advocate, wrote: When a website uses this policy token to opt out of training in its robots.txt file and Google-Extended is not explicitly specified , Google plans to interpret that as if the publisher had disallowed Google-Extended. Other AI providers can handle it similarly, making it easy for website owners to opt out across all providers, or to pick and choose. Existing company-specific controls will continue to function alongside this new joint signal. So website owners can easily express a broad choice using the industry signal, while also tailoring their instructions to individual AI developers like Google through controls such as Google-Extended. Websites that specifically allow Google-Extended are eligible to appear in responses and receive clicks via grounding in Gemini Apps. The new mechanism brings website owners the benefit of the AI training definition developed at the IETF while multistakeholder discussions continue on the rest of the AIPREF vocabulary. As more industry players adopt this mechanism, it gives website owners early and expanding access to the preference signal. This draft proposal reflects feedback from publishers, civil society groups, regulators and other stakeholders that have called for industry-wide controls on AI training. Support for this proposal across major AI providers will enable a future standard that is cross-industry, robust, and durable. This proposal is consistent with the EU Code of Practice for General Purpose AI GPAI Model Providers under the EU AI Act that recognizes robots.txt as a primary method for web publishers to express machine-readable preferences. We'll continue to work with these stakeholders to refine and standardize this through the IETF working group. We aim to support this new control along with other AI providers in 2027, and will provide updates on our progress. Forum discussion at X .