# Google, Microsoft, OpenAI and Anthropic back one AI opt-out token

> Four AI firms back one robots.txt entry to opt out of AI training.

*Site operators could block AI training scrapers with one robots.txt entry instead of one per provider.*

By Bez · FeaturedDaily
Canonical: https://featureddaily.com/news/google-microsoft-openai-and-anthropic-back-one-ai-opt-out-token

**What happened:** According to [SiliconANGLE](https://siliconangle.com/2026/10/30/google-anthropic-and-others-to-support-new-ai-crawling-opt-out-standard/), Google, Microsoft, Anthropic and OpenAI plan to support one shared website crawling standard. Site operators could block AI training scrapers with a single robots.txt entry instead of one per provider.

**The details:** [PPC Land](https://ppc.land/google-microsoft-openai-and-anthropic-back-one-ai-training-opt-out/) reports that the shared token is named `__usage_ai-training`. The companies have submitted a draft to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), which maintains the Robots Exclusion Protocol. The draft is an individual Internet-Draft dated 30 October 2026, and the IETF datatracker says it is not endorsed by the IETF.

**Who's affected:** Microsoft will honour the preferences from 1 February 2027, replacing the NoArchive and NoCache tags it has used since 2023. It is also adding an AI Grounding setting for pages an AI model reads to answer a user's question. Google targets early 2027 and will read the token as a Google-Extended opt-out.

**The rivals:** OpenAI plans support in the coming months, with similar controls. Meta has expressed support for the idea but has not committed to implementing it.

**The catch:** The token is a voluntary preference, not an access control. It does not replace GPTBot or Google-Extended rules. It applies only going forward, so content already crawled stays in existing training sets.

**Why it matters:** The standard would let operators opt out of several AI firms' training with one robots.txt line. It would not apply to models that perform exclusively non-generative tasks.

**What's next:** The draft must still pass through the IETF AI Preferences working group. Anthropic's rollout timing remains unconfirmed.

## Key takeaways

- One robots.txt entry replaces a separate rule per provider.
- The IETF draft is not endorsed yet and must clear a working group.
- Microsoft honours it from 1 February 2027; Google targets early 2027.

## Sources

- [Google, Microsoft, OpenAI and Anthropic back one AI training opt-out](https://siliconangle.com/2026/10/30/google-anthropic-and-others-to-support-new-ai-crawling-opt-out-standard/) — SiliconANGLE, 2026-10-30
- [Google, Microsoft, OpenAI and Anthropic back one AI training opt-out](https://ppc.land/google-microsoft-openai-and-anthropic-back-one-ai-training-opt-out/) — ppc.land, 2026-10-30