Cloudflare plans to launch a marketplace next year, allowing website owners to sell AI companies access to their content for training models. This move aims to give smaller publishers the control to monetize their data, a privilege typically reserved for larger platforms. CEO Matthew Prince stressed that creators need compensation for their content to ensure continued production, and this marketplace could provide a sustainable solution.

To complement this, Cloudflare introduced AI Audit, a tool offering insights into AI activity on websites. This feature allows site owners to monitor when, why, and how often AI models scrape their content, offering control over which bots can access their data. With a simple interface, users can block or allow specific AI scrapers like OpenAI, Meta, and Amazon based on their preferences.

Through this marketplace, smaller publishers will now have the chance to negotiate directly with AI providers—setting prices for data access or requesting attribution in return. This system expands opportunities once reserved for major platforms like Reddit and Quora.

While AI companies may resist paying for what they currently get for free, Prince believes this approach is vital for the ecosystem’s sustainability. By empowering website owners, Cloudflare aims to ensure that creators benefit fairly from the use of their data.