Patreon is using Cloudflare to stop AI training crawlers from accessing creator posts, CEO Jack Conte said Thursday, putting a technical block between paid creator work and model developers that scrape the web for training data.
Conte said in an Instagram post that the change is already active “at the network level on all posts published on Patreon.” He described the move as a partnership with Cloudflare, the internet infrastructure company that sells security and content delivery services to websites.
“Patreon has partnered with an internet infrastructure company called Cloudflare to block AI training crawlers from using the work you publish on your Patreon to train their AI models,” Conte wrote.
The point, according to Conte, is to give creators more control over whether their posts become raw material for generative AI systems. “Creators deserve credit, compensation, and consent. If that's not on the table, the crawlers can stay the fuck off Patreon,” he wrote.
The mechanism runs through Cloudflare’s bot controls. Cloudflare said last year it would begin blocking AI crawlers from accessing websites without permission or payment by default. Earlier this month, the company announced more granular controls that let site owners treat AI traffic differently depending on whether the bot is used for search, agentic tools, or training. Cloudflare said in a company blog post that, starting in September, new domains joining Cloudflare will have training and agent bots blocked by default on ad-supported pages, while search crawlers will stay allowed by default.
That distinction matters because “AI crawler” has become a sloppy bucket. A search crawler indexes pages so people can find them. A training crawler gathers material that may be absorbed into a model. Agent crawlers can act on behalf of users or services. Cloudflare’s pitch is that website owners should be able to make different choices for each category, instead of accepting a single all-or-nothing setting for automated traffic.
Conte has been pressing the consent argument publicly. In May, he posted a 43-minute video criticizing the AI industry’s treatment of creators. “Creators deserve consent, credit and compensation,” Conte said in that video, defining consent as the ability to opt out of training, credit as recognition when an artist’s style is replicated, and compensation as payment when that happens. He said the answer to all three, at present, was “a big fat ‘No.’”
Patreon’s own AI policy is more complicated than an anti-AI posture. The platform allows AI-generated work if it complies with its terms. 404 Media reported in 2024 that creators of nonconsensual sexual images and videos had been making money on Patreon. Last year, Patreon updated its adult content guidance to allow illustrated or animated AI depictions of people, while permitting hyperrealistic AI depictions only when real people involved have documented explicit consent.
So Patreon is not banning AI-made material from the service. It is saying, through Conte, that outside companies should not be able to mine Patreon posts for training without creator approval and payment. Patreon and Cloudflare did not immediately respond to 404 Media’s requests for comment.
This story draws on original reporting from 404 Media.
