Creative Commons launched CC signals for the AI era. The nonprofit announced this Wednesday as a way for dataset owners to specify how their content can be reused by AI models.
The move aims to balance internet openness with AI’s insatiable data hunger.
The current scramble has companies tightening data access or changing their terms. X flipped on AI training access after allowing it initially. Reddit uses robots.txt to block AI scraping. Cloudflare plans to charge AI bots and deploy tools to confuse scrapers. Open source devs have built crawl blockers too. 
CC signals proposes a middle ground: legal and ethical tools that dataset holders and AI trainers can use to set clear boundaries, mirroring Creative Commons’ iconic open licenses.
Creative Commons CEO Anna Tumadóttir said:
“CC signals are designed to sustain the commons in the age of AI.”
“Just as the CC licenses helped build the open web, we believe CC signals will help shape an open AI ecosystem grounded in reciprocity.”
Early specs are live on Creative Commons’ website and GitHub. Public feedback is open now before a planned alpha release in November 2025. Town halls and community input sessions are coming soon.
