Your website and AI: clearer choices are on the way

One choice could become easier to communicate

On October 30, Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI announced support for a shared way for websites to express AI training preferences. The idea is to reduce the work of maintaining separate instructions for each participating provider.

Training means using content to improve the patterns an AI model learns. This is different from an AI service looking up a web page while answering a question. Microsoft is introducing separate preferences for those uses and says they do not change eligibility for ordinary Bing search results.

The timing varies. Google aims to support the shared control in 2027. OpenAI says it plans to implement it in the coming months. Microsoft says its new preferences begin taking effect on February 1, 2027, as it reads sites. These announcements describe a change ahead, rather than a setting already active everywhere.

Read the announcement: Google Search Central: Supporting a shared AI training control for websites.

Think about the work you publish

If you are building a website or an app with public pages, this is a useful question to bring into the project. You may publish explanations, guides, or answers that took time and care to create. Decide what you want people and AI services to be able to do with that material.

You might welcome a service linking readers to your advice while wanting a different choice about training. Provider settings do not all work in the same way, so explain your goal before asking someone to change a file on your site.

Microsoft also sets out transition steps for websites using its older AI controls, including a March 1, 2027 deadline. If your site already has restrictions, ask your builder to review those instructions before replacing anything.

Write a short note for your builder

You do not need to learn the names of every setting to start. A few clear sentences about your wishes can make the technical conversation much easier.

1. List the public content your site contains and who owns it.
2. Describe whether you want participating AI services to use it for training.
3. Separately describe whether you want it to help inform AI answers.
4. Ask which current settings apply, what will change, and when to review them.

Make the choice part of your build

These preferences depend on providers recognising and applying them. They do not keep a public page private, guarantee traffic, or promise payment for its use. Keep confidential information in a properly protected area of your product.

The encouraging part is the move toward clearer choices. When you learn to build with AI, understanding where information goes is a useful skill alongside creating the screens. When you work with a builder, it is a decision you can ask them to explain and document. Your wishes belong in the plan from the start.