



AI Preferences                                               M. Tremante
Internet-Draft                                                   L. Romm
Intended status: Standards Track                              Cloudflare
Expires: 4 April 2026                                     1 October 2025


               Vocabulary For Expressing Content Signals
                  draft-romm-aipref-contentsignals-00

Abstract

   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].

About This Document

   This note is to be removed before publishing as an RFC.

   The latest revision of this draft can be found at https://l-
   romm.github.io/draft-romm-aipref-vocab-contentsignals/draft-romm-
   aipref-contentsignals.html.  Status information for this document may
   be found at https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-romm-aipref-
   contentsignals/.

   Discussion of this document takes place on the AI Preferences Working
   Group mailing list (mailto:ai-control@ietf.org), which is archived at
   https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/browse/ai-control/.  Subscribe at
   https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ai-control/.

   Source for this draft and an issue tracker can be found at
   https://github.com/l-romm/draft-romm-aipref-vocab-contentsignals.

Status of This Memo

   This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
   provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
   Task Force (IETF).  Note that other groups may also distribute
   working documents as Internet-Drafts.  The list of current Internet-
   Drafts is at https://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.







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   This Internet-Draft will expire on 4 April 2026.

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Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  Conventions and Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   3.  Vocabulary Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     3.1.  Search  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     3.2.  AI Input  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     3.3.  AI Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   4.  Usage Category Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   5.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   6.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   7.  Addendum  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   8.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     8.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     8.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   Appendix A.  Acknowledgments  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5

1.  Introduction

   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.



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2.  Conventions and Definitions

   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:

   *  *Search Results:* hyperlinks and short excerpts returned from
      contents of the retrieved asset(s)

   *  *Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG):* A technique where external
      content is retrieved at query time and supplied to a model to
      condition the generated output (B.  Silver)

3.  Vocabulary Definition

3.1.  Search

   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.

3.2.  AI Input

   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.

3.3.  AI Training

   The act of training or fine-tuning AI models.  The use of assets for
   AI Training is a proper subset of Automated Processing usage.

4.  Usage Category Labels

   Each usage category in Section 3 is mapped to a short textual label.
   Table 1 specifies this mapping.







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                 +=============+==========+=============+
                 | Category    | Label    | Reference   |
                 +=============+==========+=============+
                 | Search      | search   | Section 3.1 |
                 +-------------+----------+-------------+
                 | AI Input    | ai-input | Section 3.2 |
                 +-------------+----------+-------------+
                 | AI Training | ai-train | Section 3.3 |
                 +-------------+----------+-------------+

                      Table 1: Usage category labels

5.  Security Considerations

   TODO Security

6.  IANA Considerations

   This document has no IANA actions.

7.  Addendum

   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.

8.  References

8.1.  Normative References




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   [ASCII]    Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc2119>.

   [FIELDS]   Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC
              2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174,
              May 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8174>.

   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc2119>.

   [RFC8174]  Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC
              2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174,
              May 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8174>.

8.2.  Informative References

   [AIPREF-VOCAB]
              Keller, P. and M. Thomson, Ed., "A Vocabulary For
              Expressing AI Usage Preferences", Work in Progress,
              Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-aipref-vocab, October 2025,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-ietf-aipref-
              vocab>.

   [UTF8]     Yergeau, F., "UTF-8, a transformation format of ISO
              10646", STD 63, RFC 3629, DOI 10.17487/RFC3629, November
              2003, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc3629>.

Appendix A.  Acknowledgments

   TODO acknowledge.

Authors' Addresses

   Michael Tremante
   Cloudflare
   Email: mst@cloudflare.com


   Leah Romm
   Cloudflare
   Email: lromm@cloudflare.com






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