PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (February 2, 2026) – The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) today announced a draft bill entitled the “AI Accountability for Publishers Act” that would address the large-scale scraping of publisher content by artificial intelligence systems. IAB President and CEO David Cohen announced the proposal at the IAB’s annual leadership conference, outlining the urgent need for legislative action to protect the advertising-supported publishing ecosystem.
Statement from David Cohen, President and CEO of the Interactive Advertising Bureau:
Today, the IAB announced draft legislation to address an existential crisis for publishers: the large-scale scraping of content by AI bots to train large language models and provide AI-driven summaries (often without paying a penny). Whether you get your news from the most conservative or the most liberal news sites, this issue knows no political boundaries. If we continue to allow AI companies to take what they want from publishers for free, there will be very few ad-supported publishers left in just a few years.
The Internet was built by publishers and supported by digital advertising that funded their publications. Digital advertising provides a revenue stream for publishers and content creators alike, allowing them to offer everything from small blogs to Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism for free. Importantly, the “long tail” of publishing has enabled more writers, bloggers, and content creators to publish their work, connect directly with audiences, and build sustainable businesses. However, the content that powers our online activities is under threat from the misuse of artificial intelligence. The companies training and building these AI tools are free-riding on the investments made by publishers who make their content available on the internet in exchange for users seeing ads. This is simply unfair, and unless we start paying for the content AI bots collect, it will undermine the economic model that makes the content available in the first place.
The current environment is reminiscent of the decline of local news publishers in the mid-2000s. Thousands of local news organizations have closed their doors as advertising revenue has shifted to technology platforms, creating a “news desert” that has hit local accountability and access to information hard. Today, online publishers face a similar situation. Some companies now have the resources to challenge AI companies’ practices in court, but litigation can take years. We don’t have the time to develop a case, have the courts decide the issue differently, and ultimately have the Supreme Court rule. As we know, in the next few years, the advertising-supported publishing industry will become a shell of itself. Without immediate legislative action, a small number of high-end publications will survive on subscription fees, while fewer publishers will be supported by advertising. And the irony for AI companies is that when that happens, they are left with little quality content to summarize and poor quality data to use for training. The Internet will remain a vestige of its former self.
The proposed language announced today aims to protect publishers from unjust enrichment by AI companies. Unjust enrichment is a simple concept. If someone receives a benefit at your expense, it’s unfair for that person to keep it without paying for it. This concept is so basic that it has literally been around since Roman times. Therefore, we built the language of the proposal around the concept of unjust enrichment. It’s basic fairness. You receive my content and you pay for it.
About IAB
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) helps the media and marketing industries thrive in the digital economy. Its members include more than 700 leading media companies, brands, agencies, and technology companies responsible for selling, distributing, and optimizing digital advertising marketing campaigns. The industry organization conducts important research on interactive advertising while educating brands, agencies, and the broader business community about the importance of digital marketing. In partnership with the IAB Tech Lab, IAB develops technology standards and solutions. IAB is committed to professional development and advancing the knowledge, skills, expertise and collaboration of employees across industries. The industry organization advocates for its members and promotes the value of the interactive advertising industry to lawmakers and policymakers through the work of its Office of Public Policy in Washington, DC. IAB was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in New York City.
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