Internet-Draft | AIPREF Content Signals | October 2025 |
Tremante & Romm | Expires 4 April 2026 | [Page] |
This Internet Draft proposes three categories that would enable parties to express preferences regarding how digital assets are used by automated processing systems. The proposal is for these categories to nest within the larger category of Automated Processing, currently envisaged in the [AIPREF-VOCAB].¶
This note is to be removed before publishing as an RFC.¶
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This proposal introduces and aims to define a specific set of preferences to address the need for expressing how digital assets can be used by automated systems, particularly in the context of training artificial intelligence (AI) models and generating search results. These preference categories enable clear and explicit communication of preferences regarding the use of digital assets for search indexing and AI training.¶
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all capitals, as shown here.¶
For the purposes of this document, in addition to the definitions in Section 4 of [AIPREF-VOCAB], the following terms are used:¶
The act of using one or more assets to build a search index and provide Search Results. Search does not include providing AI-generated search summaries. The use of assets for Search is a proper subset of Automated Processing usage.¶
The act of inputting an asset or assets into one or more AI models for purposes of retrieval-augmented generation, grounding, or other real-time taking of content for generative AI search answers. The use of assets for AI Input is a proper subset of Automated Processing usage.¶
The act of training or fine-tuning AI models. The use of assets for AI Training is a proper subset of Automated Processing usage.¶
Each usage category in Section 3 is mapped to a short textual label. Table 1 specifies this mapping.¶
Category | Label | Reference |
---|---|---|
Search |
search
|
Section 3.1 |
AI Input |
ai-input
|
Section 3.2 |
AI Training |
ai-train
|
Section 3.3 |
TODO Security¶
This document has no IANA actions.¶
The definition definition for Search (3.1) provided in this document may be replaced with the Search Category definition proposed in [AIPREF-VOCAB] and copied below:¶
Using one or more assets in a search application that directs users to the location from which the assets were retrieved. Search applications can be complex and may serve multiple purposes. Only those parts of applications that direct users to the location of an asset are included in this category of use. This includes the use of titles or excerpts from assets that are used to help users select between multiple candidate options.¶
Preferences for the Search category apply to those parts of applications that provide search capabilities, regardless of what other preferences are stated.¶
Parts of applications that do not direct users to the location of assets, such as summaries, are not covered by this category of use.¶
The use of assets for Search is a proper subset of Automated Processing usage.¶
TODO acknowledge.¶