In a digital tug-of-war, websites are tightening their ropes against AI's grasp, particularly taking aim at ChatGPT's innovative "Browse with Bing" feature. As your go-to for information beyond its training cutoff in April last year, ChatGPT relies on this feature to fetch, analyze, and relay the latest from the web directly to you. Yet, a growing number of sites are shifting their defenses, customizing their robots.txt to specifically block OpenAI (ChatGPT’s parent co.) from accessing their site’s contents.
The way I see it, this isn't just about controlling web traffic; it's a clear message: these sites want people on their pages, not the cold scan of AI web crawlers. They're betting on the charm of personal exploration to draw you back, time and again, to engage with what they offer.