Mmastodon LifeEducation first seen 23 h ago, last 23 h ago, peak #6
Writer says AI crawlers are overwhelming blog traffic
Original: Thanks to @ audreywatters for the link to an article that contains the following. "The traffic to my blog and my books (
Education technology writer Audrey Watters shared an article in which an author reports that traffic to their blog and freely available books has surged beyond what they can afford to host, with virtually all of the increase coming from AI crawlers. Because the visitors are automated scrapers rather than human readers, the site earns no advertising income from the load, raising concerns about the costs AI training bots impose on independent writers.
Why now: Growing frustration over AI companies' crawlers driving up hosting costs for independent publishers without any revenue in return.
Evidence
- Thanks to @ audreywatters for the link to an article that contains the following. "The traffic to my blog and my books (which were free to read online) increased beyond what I can currently afford. Virtually all of it comes from AI crawlers, so there is no ad income. Therefore,… · marcusgreen@fosstodon.org · 2
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