The article reveals a growing tension between content platforms and AI companies: simple requests to not scrape, like robots.txt files, are increasingly ignored by sophisticated AI training crawlers.

Patreon had already put measures in place in 2023, but newer discovery tools like a redesigned Home Feed and Quips exposed more creator content to potential scraping.

The core problem is that consent-based systems fail when scrapers simply choose not to comply, leaving creators without meaningful control over how their work is used to train AI models.

This tension is not unique to Patreon; it reflects a wider industry struggle as AI companies aggressively seek training data.