Archive publisher SmallTownPapers to restrict AI chat-bot

Jun 1, 2023

So called “AI chat-bots” can digest entire archives of content from which it creates derivatives for delivery to its customers.

Seattle-based SmallTownPapers has said it will change the way third parties access its content, beginning with a newly revamped website that for the first time places restrictions on who and what can access its scanned archive and OCR text.

“With the exploding capabilities of artificial intelligence as we have seen in Microsoft’s Bing and Google’s Bard AI chat-bot systems recently, we recognize the entire landscape of content utilization and licensing will change,” SmallTownPapers President Paul Jeffko said.

So called “AI chat-bots” can digest entire archives of content from which it creates derivatives for delivery to its customers. In the past, search engines only provided links to content, but the bots will actually consume content for redistribution in evolving business models.

“Copyright laws made it permissible for web crawlers to analyze private web content for the purposes of providing links back to the publisher's website; however, those laws do not provide AI chat-bots with any special rights to consume and resell protected content. It is important that publishers immediately begin making that distinction,” Jeffko said.

The company says it is developing a system whereby AI chat-bots can be charged a fee for each reuse of protected content. The company has scanned 6 million pages of community newspaper archives, all available to the public free of charge.