The new system is being rolled out by internet infrastructure firm, Cloudflare, which hosts around a fifth of the internet.
Eventually, sites will be able to ask for payment from AI firms in return for having their content scraped.
Many prominent writers, artists, musicians and actors have accused AI firms of training systems on their work without permission or payment.
In the UK, it led to a furious row between the government and artists including Sir Elton John over how to protect copyright.
Cloudflare’s tech targets AI firm bots – also known as crawlers – programmes that explore the web, indexing and collecting data as they go. They are important to the way AI firms build, train and operate their systems.
So far, Cloudflare says its tech is active on a million websites.
Roger Lynch, chief executive of Condé Nast, whose print titles include GQ, Vogue, and The New Yorker, said the move was “a game-changer” for publishers.
“This is a critical step toward creating a fair value exchange on the Internet that protects creators, supports quality journalism and holds AI companies accountable”, he wrote in a statement. However, other experts say stronger legal protections will still be needed...<<<Read More>>>...