What is Zenfolio doing to prevent my work from being used in AI training?
Zenfolio is fully committed to protecting our members' data, including your uploaded images, videos, and other content. We do not share or sell any member data for use in any AI training models.
At Zenfolio, we understand the importance of protecting your intellectual property, and we strive to provide a safe and secure platform for our users. While we continuously review and enhance our security measures, your intellectual property is a top priority at Zenfolio.
What types of AI crawlers exist, and what do they do?
At Zenfolio, we've identified three types of AI crawlers and their purposes:
| 1 | Search Indexing: Crawlers that access site content for the purpose of search engine indexing, similar to how indexing has worked for search engines for many years. You've likely seen Google AI search summaries at the top of your Google searches. This is what search indexing crawlers gather information for. These types of crawlers do not use your images, text, or any other type of content for training purposes. Put more plainly, these crawlers do not use your content to train generative AI models. |
| 2 | User-requested Information: These are crawlers that can fetch content on request. For example, if you were to ask a program like ChatGPT to summarize the terms of service on a website. Similar to the Search Indexing type, this type of crawler does not use your content to train generative AI models. |
| 3 | Training Models: Crawlers that download information (text, images, etc.) for the purpose of training generative AI models. Zenfolio DOES NOT allow access to these crawlers. |
At this time, Zenfolio allows Type 1 (Search Indexing) for the purpose of SEO (Search Engine Optimization), as blocking this type entirely would greatly harm your site's ability to be discovered organically via search engines. Zenfolio allows Type 2 (User-requested Information) on our marketing site (zenfolio.com) for the purpose of making information on our site more accessible, as well as on member sites, as this is part of Google’s broader approach to SEO, in conjunction with Type 1.
We DO NOT allow Type 3 (Training Models) on your site in any capacity.
Zenfolio blocks generative AI crawlers from using your site's data in training models
As a photographer, the thought of an AI crawler scanning your site may be concerning. At Zenfolio, we prioritize the privacy and protection of our users' content. By default, Zenfolio completely blocks generative AI crawlers from using your work in their training models via our Content Delivery Network, and we have implemented a flag on every site to tell AI datasets not to use your images, videos, or other content.
This means your website's content cannot be used as training data for AI models without your knowledge or consent.
If you still have questions, please reach out to our support to for further assistance.