Robots.txt for AI

Robots.txt for AI extends the traditional concept of crawler access control to a new class of bots, giving website owners the ability to decide which AI systems can use their content and for what purposes.

What is Robots.txt for AI?

Robots.txt has been the standard protocol for controlling search engine crawler access since 1994. With the rise of AI companies deploying their own web crawlers to gather training data and power retrieval-augmented generation systems, the robots.txt file has taken on new significance. “Robots.txt for AI” refers to the practice of specifically configuring robots.txt directives to manage access from AI-specific crawlers.

The New Crawler Landscape

Traditional robots.txt managed a small number of well-known bots (Googlebot, Bingbot). Today, website owners must consider a growing roster of AI crawlers.

Crawler	Company	Purpose
GPTBot	OpenAI	Training data and web browsing for ChatGPT
ChatGPT-User	OpenAI	Real-time web access during ChatGPT sessions
ClaudeBot	Anthropic	Web content retrieval for Claude
Google-Extended	Google	AI training data (separate from Googlebot)
Bytespider	ByteDance	Training data for AI models
CCBot	Common Crawl	Open dataset used by many AI companies
PerplexityBot	Perplexity	Content retrieval for AI search
Applebot-Extended	Apple	AI training beyond standard Siri/Search use
Meta-ExternalAgent	Meta	AI training data collection

How AI Crawlers Differ from Search Crawlers

Traditional search crawlers index your content to display it in search results, driving traffic back to your site. AI crawlers serve different purposes:

Training crawlers collect content to train large language models. Your content may be absorbed into the model’s weights, with no direct attribution or traffic returned.

Retrieval crawlers access content in real-time to ground AI-generated answers. These are more analogous to search crawlers but may summarize your content in ways that reduce click-through.

This distinction matters because you may want different access policies for each type.

Configuring Robots.txt for AI Crawlers

Basic Syntax

Robots.txt uses User-agent directives to target specific crawlers and Disallow or Allow rules to control access.

Block all AI crawlers:

User-agent: GPTBot
Disallow: /

User-agent: ChatGPT-User
Disallow: /

User-agent: ClaudeBot
Disallow: /

User-agent: Google-Extended
Disallow: /

User-agent: CCBot
Disallow: /

User-agent: PerplexityBot
Disallow: /

User-agent: Bytespider
Disallow: /

Allow AI crawlers full access:

User-agent: GPTBot
Allow: /

User-agent: ClaudeBot
Allow: /

User-agent: PerplexityBot
Allow: /

Selective Access Strategies

Most websites benefit from a nuanced approach rather than blanket blocking or allowing.

Allow AI access to public content, block premium content:

User-agent: GPTBot
Allow: /blog/
Allow: /glossary/
Disallow: /dashboard/
Disallow: /premium/
Disallow: /api/

User-agent: ClaudeBot
Allow: /blog/
Allow: /glossary/
Disallow: /dashboard/
Disallow: /premium/
Disallow: /api/

Block training crawlers but allow retrieval crawlers:

# Block training-only crawlers
User-agent: Google-Extended
Disallow: /

User-agent: CCBot
Disallow: /

User-agent: Bytespider
Disallow: /

# Allow retrieval crawlers (these may cite and link to you)
User-agent: GPTBot
Allow: /

User-agent: PerplexityBot
Allow: /

User-agent: ClaudeBot
Allow: /

Strategic Considerations

The Access vs. Visibility Tradeoff

Blocking AI crawlers protects your content from being used without compensation or attribution. However, it also prevents your content from being cited in AI-generated answers.

Strategy	Pros	Cons
Block all AI crawlers	Maximum content protection	Zero AI visibility, no citations
Allow all AI crawlers	Maximum AI visibility	Content used for training without compensation
Selective access	Balanced approach	More complex to maintain
Allow retrieval only	Citations without training use	Difficult to enforce distinction

Compliance and Enforcement

Robots.txt is a voluntary protocol. It relies on crawlers honoring the directives, which reputable AI companies generally do. However:

• Not legally binding in most jurisdictions (though evolving)
• Major AI companies (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google) publicly commit to respecting robots.txt
• Smaller operators may not check or comply
• No technical enforcement mechanism exists within robots.txt itself

Beyond Robots.txt

Robots.txt is one layer of an AI access control strategy. Other mechanisms include:

Meta robots tags - Page-level control using <meta name="robots" content="noai"> (emerging standard)

HTTP headers - X-Robots-Tag headers for non-HTML resources

Terms of service - Legal restrictions on automated scraping

ai.txt - A proposed standard specifically for AI crawler communication (not yet widely adopted)

Monitoring AI Crawler Activity

Server Log Analysis

Check your server logs to understand which AI crawlers are accessing your site and how frequently.

Key metrics to track:

• Which AI crawlers visit your site
• How many pages they crawl per session
• Which sections they access most
• Crawl frequency and patterns
• Whether they respect your robots.txt rules

Verification

Most AI companies publish their crawler IP ranges and user-agent strings, allowing you to verify that traffic claiming to be from a specific AI bot is genuine.

Common Robots.txt Mistakes

Blocking Googlebot instead of Google-Extended. Blocking Googlebot removes your site from Google Search entirely. To block only AI training use, target Google-Extended specifically.

Forgetting the wildcard fallback. If your default User-agent: * rule allows everything, new AI crawlers not explicitly listed will have full access.

Not updating regularly. New AI crawlers appear frequently. A robots.txt written in 2024 may not account for crawlers launched in 2025 or 2026.

Inconsistent rules. Having conflicting Allow and Disallow rules for the same crawler creates ambiguity that may be interpreted differently by different bots.

Why It Matters for AEO

Robots.txt configuration for AI crawlers is one of the most consequential technical decisions in Answer Engine Optimization because it directly determines whether AI systems can access your content at all.

The gatekeeper of AI visibility. If you block AI crawlers entirely, your content cannot be retrieved, cited, or recommended by AI answer engines regardless of how well-optimized it is. Robots.txt is the first checkpoint in the AEO pipeline.

Strategic content exposure. A well-configured robots.txt allows you to expose your highest-value public content to AI systems while protecting proprietary or premium content. This targeted approach maximizes citation opportunities without giving away everything.

Competitive intelligence. Understanding how competitors configure their robots.txt for AI crawlers reveals their AEO strategy. Companies blocking all AI access are conceding that visibility to competitors who allow it.

Evolving landscape. As AI search grows and new crawlers emerge, your robots.txt policy must evolve with it. Regularly auditing and updating your AI crawler directives ensures you maintain the right balance between content protection and AI visibility, making it a core ongoing component of any AEO strategy.