New Initiative Will Develop Protocols for Content Monetization, Large Language Model (LLM) Discovery, and Bot and Crawler Traffic Management

IAB Tech Lab, the global digital advertising technical standards-setting body, announced the formation of the AI Content Monetization Protocols (CoMP) Working Group. Previously introduced as the LLM Content Ingest API, the initiative has been renamed to better reflect its broader scope and goals.

“This group came together because the fundamentals of the open web are under ever-increasing pressure,” said Anthony Katsur, CEO, IAB Tech Lab. “Publishers are seeing significant traffic drops from AI experiences like overviews and chatbots. Brands are watching their product information get stripped of context or misrepresented. It’s time to build the technical plumbing for a better path forward.”

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The AI CoMP Working Group will define new standards that allow publishers and content creators to sustainably monetize in an AI-first digital ecosystem. Its framework will focus on three key components:

• Blocking bot traffic — effectively giving publishers a “door with a lock” to control unwanted scraping
• LLM-friendly discovery — helping publishers participate in AI experiences in a way that builds a viable marketplace
• LLM Ingest API — a standardized mechanism for content ingestion that allows AI systems to monetize through opt-in participation

These protocols are designed not just to restore lost ad revenue, but to give publishers and brands control over how their information is accessed and presented in AI-driven environments. The framework is designed to support a range of monetization models, from pay-per-crawl to aggregation to outcome-based structures, allowing flexibility across the ecosystem.

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“The rise of generative AI created the Wild West for content usage. What we’re building now is the zoning map,” said Shailley Singh, Executive Vice President, Product and Chief Operating Officer, IAB Tech Lab. “This initiative gives publishers the tools to protect their IP and unlock new value — not just plug holes.”

“While some content deals have been struck with large publishers, the mid and long tail remain unheard,” Katsur concluded. “This framework gives everyone a seat at the table.”

IAB Tech Lab is extending a direct invitation to AI innovators including OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, Meta, Perplexity, Grok, and other emerging AI agents, as well as publishers, platforms, edge cloud providers, and technology companies of every size to actively participate in shaping these protocols.