Automated bots are now restricted from using Patreon creators’ work to train AI. The platform’s new partnership with Cloudflare aims to protect original content. AI crawlers face tougher barriers as web traffic from bots surges.
Patreon is taking new steps to protect creators’ content from being used without permission by artificial intelligence companies. The platform has announced a partnership with Cloudflare to block automated bots-often called crawlers-that attempt to collect creators’ work for AI model training. This move is designed to give creators more control over how their material is accessed and used by third parties.
Jack Conte, CEO of Patreon, shared the news on Instagram, emphasizing that creators should have the right to credit, compensation, and consent when it comes to the use of their work. Drew Rowny, Patreon’s senior vice president of product, said in a Cloudflare statement that the collaboration aims to restrict known AI training crawlers at the network level, while still allowing bots that help creators grow their audiences through search.
Cloudflare’s data shows that automated bots now account for 57.4% of web requests, compared to 42.6% from human users. The company noted that while a typical person might visit a handful of sites before making a purchase, AI services can scan thousands of websites in a short period. In response to this surge in automated traffic, Cloudflare is enabling website owners to block AI crawlers based on their classification as search bots, agents, or training crawlers. Starting in September, Cloudflare will automatically block training and agent bots on ad-supported pages by default.
This development follows a broader industry trend of publishers and platforms seeking to manage how AI agents interact with their content. For example, some major publishers are experimenting with site formats designed specifically for AI-driven search, as seen in recent efforts by Time and The Economist to build AI-optimized webpages.
