Latest news with #DanielleCoffey
WIRED
01-07-2025
- Business
- WIRED
Cloudflare Is Blocking AI Crawlers by Default
Jul 1, 2025 6:00 AM The age of the AI scraping free-for-all may be coming to an end. At least if Cloudflare gets its way. Photograph:Last year, internet infrastructure firm Cloudflare launched tools enabling its customers to block AI scrapers. Today the company has taken its fight against permissionless scraping several steps further. It has switched to blocking AI crawlers by default for its customers and is moving forward with a Pay Per Crawl program that lets customers charge AI companies to scrape their websites. Web crawlers have trawled the internet for information for decades. Without them, people would lose vitally important online tools, from Google Search to the Internet Archive's invaluable digital preservation work. But the AI boom has produced a corresponding boomlet in AI-focused web crawlers, and these bots scrape web pages with a frequency that can mimic a DDoS attack, straining servers and knocking websites offline. Even when websites can handle the heightened activity, many do not want AI crawlers scraping their content, especially news publications that are demanding AI companies to pay to use their work. 'We've been feverishly trying to protect ourselves,' says Danielle Coffey, the president and CEO of the trade group News Media Alliance, which represents several thousand North American outlets. So far, Cloudflare's head of AI control, privacy, and media products, Will Allen, tells WIRED, over 1 million customer websites have activated its older AI-bot-blocking tools. Now millions more will have the option of keeping bot blocking as their default. Cloudflare also says it can identify even 'shadow' scrapers that are not publicized by AI companies. The company noted that it uses a proprietary combination of behavioral analysis, fingerprinting, and machine learning to classify and separate AI bots from 'good' bots. A widely used web standard called the Robots Exclusion Protocol, often implemented through a file, helps publishers block bots on a case-by-case basis, but following it is not legally required, and there's plenty of evidence that some AI companies try to evade efforts to block their scrapers. ' is ignored,' Coffey says. According to a report from the content licensing platform Tollbit, which offers its own marketplace for publishers to negotiate with AI companies over bot access, AI scraping is still on the rise—including scraping that ignores Tollbit found that over 26 million scrapes ignored the protocol in March 2025 alone. In this context, Cloudflare's shift to blocking by default could prove a significant roadblock to surreptitious scrapers and could give publishers more leverage to negotiate, whether through the Pay Per Crawl program or otherwise. 'This could dramatically change the power dynamic. Up to this point, AI companies have not needed to pay to license content, because they've known that they can just take it without consequences,' says Atlantic CEO (and former WIRED editor in chief) Nicholas Thompson. 'Now they'll have to negotiate, and it will become a competitive advantage for the AI companies that can strike more and better deals with more and better publishers.' AI startup ProRata, which operates the AI search engine has agreed to participate in the Pay Per Crawl program, according to CEO and founder Bill Gross. 'We firmly believe that all content creators and publishers should be compensated when their content is used in AI answers,' Gross says. Of course, it remains to be seen whether the big players in the AI space will participate in a program like Pay Per Crawl, which is in beta. (Cloudflare declined to name current participants.) Companies like OpenAI have struck licensing deals with a variety of publishing partners, including WIRED parent company Condé Nast, but specific details of these agreements have not been disclosed, including whether the agreement covers bot access. Meanwhile, there's an entire online ecosystem of tutorials about how to evade Cloudflare's bot blocking tools aimed at web scrapers. As the blocking default rolls out, it's likely these efforts will continue. Cloudflare emphasizes that customers who do want to let the robots scrape unimpeded will be able to turn off the blocking setting. 'All blocking is fully optional and at the discretion of each individual user,' Allen says.
Engadget
23-05-2025
- Business
- Engadget
The Morning After: Google I/O's biggest announcements want to keep you Googling
Google I/O 2025 happened earlier this week, and while there was no new hardware to speak of, the company barraged developers with new AI announcements, search features and bafflingly pricy subscriptions. First up is the new AI Mode chatbot in search. AI Mode handles more complex queries than traditional search, somewhere between striking up a chat with Gemini and barreling into a traditional Google search. You could, for example, compare multiple cars you're considering buying or parse travel options for your next big vacation. AI Mode can simulate how you might look in a new piece of clothing (you have to upload a photo of yourself first to do so), and Google can even track pricing in your size and preferred color. AI Mode augments Google's AI Overviews, powered by Gemini. You've probably seen them summarizing your search requests (and often getting things wrong, in my experience). When the Overviews do get things right, it means you never have to leave Google Search, which is great for Google but not for the places where Google got the answer. In fact, the News/Media Alliance says AI Mode is theft. President and CEO Danielle Coffey said, 'Google just takes content by force and uses it with no return, the definition of theft.' The most interesting announcement for me was Google's latest upgrades to video generation and AI video creation tools. It unveiled Veo 3, the first iteration of Google's AI video generator that can make videos with sound slightly more realistic (less unhinged video). It's joined by a new filmmaking app called Flow, which is based on the experimental VideoFX feature Google's been working on for a few years. With Flow, you can edit and extend existing shots, add and choose camera movement and perspective controls and even fold AI video content generated with Veo into projects. But it still looks kinda weird. — Mat Smith Get Engadget's newsletter delivered direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here! In years past, we've seen solid Memorial Day sales on many of our favorite tablets, headphones, charging accessories, robot vacuums and more. That's on top of all the seasonal items that usually get discounted at this time, like smart grills, pizza ovens and outdoor tech. If you're tempted but not entirely sold, here's your reminder that Amazon Prime Day typically happens in July. Maybe you can wait. Continue reading. Maybe you want access to the most impressive AI features Google revealed this week. Maybe you want to play around with Flow. Well, you need either AI Pro ($20 a month) or the insane $250 sub to AI Ultra for some of the most intriguing, creativity-threatening features. Don't worry, though! AI Ultra has an introductory offer of $125 for the first three months! What. A. Deal. Google is trying to justify its pricing by including YouTube Premium and 30TB of cloud storage. But YouTube Premium is $14 per month — what about the other $200-plus? Continue reading. OpenAI is buying Jony Ive's startup, io, for $6.5 billion. And to celebrate, it took a black and white photo on an iPhone. Ive and his design studio, LoveForm, will continue to work independently of OpenAI. However, the other cofounders will become OpenAI employees alongside about 50 other engineers, designers and researchers. Does this mean physical OpenAI devices on the horizon? Apparently, it won't be a phone or a wearable. Continue reading. The latest trend-baiting camera from Fujifilm is, well, adorable. The X Half is an 18-megapixel digital compact camera, but it uses half of a 1-inch sensor to shoot 3:4 vertical photos. The name comes from half-frame cameras that use a 35mm film frame sawed in half, which were popular in the '60s, like the famous Olympus Pen F. It was great for '60s photographers, who could double-up the shots on a single roll of film — but that's not really an issue in the digital era. The X Half has the same 3:4 vertical ratio as Fuji's Instax Mini instant cameras, so you can make prints using an Instax Mini printer. Fujifilm had a viral hit with the X100 VI, so the even more unique (and tiny!) X Half could appeal to a similar group of shooters. It's now on pre-order for $850 (in black, charcoal silver and silver) with shipping set to start on June 12. Continue reading. Netflix will roll out AI-generated ads in 2026, which will play in the middle of a show or whenever users hit pause in its ad-supported plans. Netflix has been steadily increasing subscription costs for its ad-free plans, so maybe 2026 will offer a final push to the pricier subscriptions. Continue reading.
Hans India
22-05-2025
- Business
- Hans India
News Publishers Call Google's AI Mode ‘Theft', Demand Regulatory Intervention
Google's latest AI-powered feature in Search—AI Mode—is sparking an intense backlash from news publishers, who say the tool is exploiting their content without consent or compensation. The News/Media Alliance, a major U.S.-based media group representing around 2,000 publishers, has called the new feature a form of 'theft' and is urging federal regulators to step in. Announced at Google's I/O 2025 developer event, AI Mode is designed to make Search more conversational, allowing users to interact with it like a chatbot. Rather than presenting users with a list of clickable links as traditional search engines do, the new feature provides instant, full-length responses to user queries—answers that are often drawn from the very content produced by journalists and media houses. Danielle Coffey, President and CEO of the News/Media Alliance, condemned the move: 'Links were the last redeeming quality of search that gave publishers traffic and revenue. Now Google just takes content by force and uses it with no return, the definition of theft.' The group is calling on the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) to step in, warning that Google's growing dominance over online information could severely harm journalism and public discourse. 'The DOJ remedies must address this to prevent continued domination of the internet by one company,' Coffey added. AI Mode has been in testing via Google Labs for several months but is now rolling out to a wider audience in the United States. According to Google, the tool is accessible without requiring user sign-in and is primarily designed for mobile platforms. There's no official word yet on when it will launch in other countries, including India. Google is pitching AI Mode as the natural evolution of Search, claiming it enhances user experience by simplifying complex queries, saving time, and helping users with tasks like booking services, analysing data, or comparing prices. Rather than just showing snippets or headlines, AI Mode scans multiple websites—often news articles—and delivers detailed answers in seconds. Alongside AI Mode, Google is introducing other features like Deep Search and Search Live. Deep Search can generate detailed responses by running hundreds of background queries, while Search Live uses your phone camera to answer questions about real-world objects in real time, effectively integrating Gemini Live into Search. Despite the technological innovation, publishers fear these tools will undermine their presence in the digital ecosystem. As AI responses become the primary source of information in Google Search, users may no longer feel the need to click through to the original articles, leading to significant losses in traffic, ad revenue, and influence for news organisations. This controversy comes at a sensitive time for Google, as it is currently embroiled in an antitrust trial in the U.S. A federal court has already determined that Google is a 'monopolist' in the search market, and the case has now entered the remedies phase—where regulators and the court are exploring how best to curb the tech giant's power. Among the remedies proposed by the DoJ are forcing Google to divest its Chrome browser and requiring it to share search data with competitors. Now, publishers want the AI Mode issue to be included in this broader regulatory crackdown, arguing that without intervention, journalism's role in a democratic society could be irreparably harmed. As AI tools continue to reshape the internet, the battle over how content is used—and who gets credit or compensation—has become more urgent than ever. For publishers, this isn't just about traffic but survival in the AI age. Tags: Google AI Mode controversy, News publishers, Google, AI Search and media, Google antitrust case, AI Mode, Tech News, Technology
India Today
22-05-2025
- Business
- India Today
News publishers say AI Mode in Google Search is theft of their work
Google's push for the AI-fication of Search has the company facing strong criticism from news publishers. A major media group in the United States has accused Google of misusing their content without offering anything in return. They have called it 'theft'. At the heart of the controversy is Google's new feature called AI Mode, which the company officially announced at its annual I/O 2025 developer event. With this tool, users can interact with Google Search as if it were a chatbot, asking complex queries and follow-up questions, and getting full responses in return, without actually needing to click on any traditional News/Media Alliance, which represents around 2,000 publishers in the US, issued a sharp response to the launch. Danielle Coffey, the group's president and CEO, said, 'Links were the last redeeming quality of search that gave publishers traffic and revenue. Now Google just takes content by force and uses it with no return, the definition of theft.'advertisementThe group is urging US regulators, particularly the Department of Justice (DoJ), to intervene. The group believes that Google's dominance over online information is increasingly unchecked, and that the new AI Mode further weakens the already strained relationship between publishers and the tech platform. 'The DOJ remedies must address this to prevent continued domination of the internet by one company,' Coffey added in his meanwhile, is presenting AI Mode as the natural next step in the evolution of Search. The feature has been tested with select users through Google Labs for months now, but starting Wednesday, it is widely available across the US. Users don't even need to sign in to use it, and it is primarily being rolled out on mobile devices. The availability of the feature in India is unclear right According to Google, AI Mode is designed to make search more conversational and helpful. Instead of showing users a page full of links – how we see it right now, minus the AI Overview on top – the AI breaks down the query, scans multiple websites, and gives users detailed answers in seconds. It can even help users with tasks like booking a ticket, comparing prices, reserving a table at a restaurant, or analysing financial addition to that, AI Mode also comes with features like Deep Search and Search Live that add more AI power to the feature. Deep Search lets users run hundreds of background queries to create a detailed response, while Search Live lets users point their phone's camera at something and ask questions about it in real time. Think of it as Gemini Live integration into Google these tools have the potential to offer great convenience to users, news and media publishers argue that with such deep-rooted AI-tools embedded into Google Search – which will generate most of its responses based on the information provided by media houses – publishers are being further pushed out of the online ecosystem. Because if Google shows users AI responses – which will be built on the media publishers' work – users will feel less and less need to visit the original source of information, which will eventually cost publishers valuable traffic and media publishers have urged the DoJ to look into the issue as Google's antitrust trial – where the US court found the company to be a 'monopolist' – is currently in the remedies phase. Basically, the court in the US has found that Google is monopolising the search market, and now they are trying to find the right solution to fix that. The DoJ has proposed that the company should be forced to divest Google Chrome, and it should be asked to share its search data with its In
Engadget
21-05-2025
- Business
- Engadget
News/Media Alliance calls Google's AI Mode 'theft'
The News/Media Alliance took aim at Google today after the tech company's announcement at its I/O showcase that AI Mode will be rolling out to all US search users . This feature more closely integrates an AI chatbot into Google search. Ostensibly, AI Mode can help people get better answers to their queries, but it also serves to keep users on a Google property rather than clicking through to get information from other publications. "Links were the last redeeming quality of search that gave publishers traffic and revenue. Now Google just takes content by force and uses it with no return, the definition of theft," said News/Media Alliance President and CEO Danielle Coffey. "The DOJ remedies must address this to prevent continued domination of the internet by one company." This isn't the first time the organization has fired shots at Google; it filed an amicus brief earlier this month looking for remedy in the antitrust case about Google's monopoly control over search. The group argued that publishers should be able to opt out of letting search engines use their content for retrieval augmented generation. Google has also taken an aggressive stance toward publishers as it develops more AI-driven services. The company's recent attitude can be seen in Bloomberg 's discovery of an internal document showing that the company decided not to give publishers a choice to opt out of AI training if they wanted their material to appear in search results.
