Cabel SasserJun 20, 2024

If it were up to me, Apple would create the world’s first “Do Not Train” registry. Enter your domain or web page, get a TXT record or meta tag to prove ownership, prevent Apple from using your content to train any LLM.

Only a small percentage of sites would do it, I think, so the training impact would be low, but it’d be extremely meaningful for those people. And it’d be a valuable PR tool, brand-booster, and competitor-shamer. (Bonus: make it open and encourage competitors to follow it.)

Show threadJason Petersen (he)Jun 20, 2024

@cabel (a) why would this be different than then saying they’d honor a robots.txt?

(b) this sounds like a do not track thing, but without even the attempts at legislation around it (which themselves failed, and using the header at all is pointless)

Show threadCabel SasserJun 20, 2024
@jason Somewhat cynically, with my Apple hat on: much stronger PR. “Apple follows robots.txt” is a weak headline and robots.txt are notoriously loosely and optionally-followed so trust is very low. Apple is all about building trust but that can’t be built on a shaky platform. New initiatives get attention.
Show threadHenry WilkinsonJun 20, 2024
@cabel @jason I like the sentiment, but functionally it seems no different? The largest “AI” companies already have ways of blocking their crawlers via robots.txt and as you say this would also be “opt in” and unenforceable. If any company were to do this, I would critique it as an incredibly empty gesture.
Show threadCabel SasserJun 20, 2024
@hank @jason I think “robots.txt” has a very bad reputation for being voluntary and often outright ignored. It’s almost not even worth doing one because there’s zero accountability. It’s time to start over. The idea here is to increase trust and accountability. But it would also be quintessentially Apple to reinvent something that has long existed but making it a little bit better and nicer. Look i’m just wearing my Apple pretend executive hat here! 😛
Show threadJason Petersen (he)

@cabel @hank right, this would entirely benefit Apple’s brand and require extra work for one specific vendor.

Frankly if they did this and opened it up to third party AI providers, I would be extremely tempted to sign up just to wantonly violate it and drag down the reputation it might carry.

Yes, I’m that petty, but maybe the only computer company I’ve ever used (save one gaming PC) in nearly four decades should stop acting in ways that have me looking for the exits.

Jun 20, 2024 at 4:00pmWeb