An opt-out header refers to HTTP or robots.txt directives, such as noai or noimageai, that signal to AI crawlers that a website’s content should be excluded from AI model training, distinct from standard search engine crawling and indexing directives.
These emerging directives give website owners some ability to control whether their content is used to train AI models, separate from the traditional decision of whether to allow search engine crawling and indexing.
Adoption and respect for these opt-out signals varies across different AI companies and crawlers, meaning businesses should verify a specific AI crawler’s actual compliance with these directives rather than assuming universal adherence.
We advise on AI opt-out configuration within our Technical SEO service.