From bf4e42193c2563f84c58758515f391838bedab24 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Joost de Valk Date: Tue, 28 Jul 2026 08:13:09 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 1/2] =?UTF-8?q?fix(agent-readiness):=20aipref=20attachment?= =?UTF-8?q?=20draft=20expired=20=E2=80=94=20say=20so=20on=20Content=20Sign?= =?UTF-8?q?als?= MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit draft-ietf-aipref-attach, the document that would bind AI usage preferences to content over HTTP, expired in April 2026 and has not been replaced. draft-ietf-aipref-vocab is still alive. The page implied both halves were converging; split them and name which one a site can act on. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) --- src/content/spec/agent-readiness/content-signals.md | 8 +++++--- 1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-) diff --git a/src/content/spec/agent-readiness/content-signals.md b/src/content/spec/agent-readiness/content-signals.md index be58da06..00afde84 100644 --- a/src/content/spec/agent-readiness/content-signals.md +++ b/src/content/spec/agent-readiness/content-signals.md @@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ status: optional order: 42 appliesTo: [all] relatedSlugs: [robots-for-ai-crawlers, robots-txt, agent-readiness-overview, web-bot-auth] -updated: "2026-05-29T12:14:17.000Z" +updated: "2026-07-28T00:00:00.000Z" sources: - title: "IETF AI Preferences WG (aipref) — drafts" url: "https://datatracker.ietf.org/wg/aipref/documents/" @@ -43,12 +43,14 @@ Each takes `yes` or `no`. Multiple values are comma-separated on a single `Conte ## Status of the proposal -This is **not yet a settled standard**. The work is split across two ongoing efforts: +This is **not yet a settled standard**, and the two halves of it are in very different health. The work is split across two efforts: - The **IETF AI Preferences working group ([aipref](https://datatracker.ietf.org/wg/aipref/documents/))** is working on a vocabulary and protocol-level definition. - The **IAB Tech Lab Content Signals project** has published a parallel specification aimed at industry adoption. -Drafts have been circulating since 2024 and the vocabulary is converging. Treat Content Signals as recommended-to-experiment-with, not as a finalised standard. The directive will be ignored by every crawler that does not yet parse it — which today is most of them. +Inside the IETF work, separate the *vocabulary* from the *attachment mechanism*. The vocabulary — what `search`, `ai-input` and `ai-train` mean — is alive and progressing as [draft-ietf-aipref-vocab](https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-ietf-aipref-vocab/). The document that would define how you actually bind those preferences to content over HTTP, [draft-ietf-aipref-attach](https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-ietf-aipref-attach/), **expired in April 2026** and has not been replaced. So the part of Content Signals a site can act on today — a line in `robots.txt` — currently rests on the IAB Tech Lab specification and on validator convention, not on a live IETF draft. + +That is not a reason to avoid it, but it is a reason to expect the syntax to move. Treat Content Signals as recommended-to-experiment-with, not as a finalised standard. The directive will be ignored by every crawler that does not yet parse it — which today is most of them. ## Why it matters From c81c5c67c32617c74116030ebe27945a251ed7b3 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Joost de Valk Date: Tue, 28 Jul 2026 11:30:12 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 2/2] fix(agent-readiness): correct the aipref attach expiry date and dormancy The -04 revision expired 1 May 2026, not April. Add the stronger signal: the attach text has had no edits in the WG's own drafts repository since September 2025, while vocab was being edited for publication in April. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) --- src/content/spec/agent-readiness/content-signals.md | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/src/content/spec/agent-readiness/content-signals.md b/src/content/spec/agent-readiness/content-signals.md index 00afde84..2f06208b 100644 --- a/src/content/spec/agent-readiness/content-signals.md +++ b/src/content/spec/agent-readiness/content-signals.md @@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ This is **not yet a settled standard**, and the two halves of it are in very dif - The **IETF AI Preferences working group ([aipref](https://datatracker.ietf.org/wg/aipref/documents/))** is working on a vocabulary and protocol-level definition. - The **IAB Tech Lab Content Signals project** has published a parallel specification aimed at industry adoption. -Inside the IETF work, separate the *vocabulary* from the *attachment mechanism*. The vocabulary — what `search`, `ai-input` and `ai-train` mean — is alive and progressing as [draft-ietf-aipref-vocab](https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-ietf-aipref-vocab/). The document that would define how you actually bind those preferences to content over HTTP, [draft-ietf-aipref-attach](https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-ietf-aipref-attach/), **expired in April 2026** and has not been replaced. So the part of Content Signals a site can act on today — a line in `robots.txt` — currently rests on the IAB Tech Lab specification and on validator convention, not on a live IETF draft. +Inside the IETF work, separate the *vocabulary* from the *attachment mechanism*. The vocabulary — what `search`, `ai-input` and `ai-train` mean — is alive and was being edited for publication as recently as April 2026 ([draft-ietf-aipref-vocab](https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-ietf-aipref-vocab/)). The document that would define how you actually bind those preferences to content over HTTP, [draft-ietf-aipref-attach](https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-ietf-aipref-attach/), **expired on 1 May 2026** and has not been reposted; its text has seen no edits in the working group's repository since September 2025. So the part of Content Signals a site can act on today — a line in `robots.txt` — currently rests on the IAB Tech Lab specification and on validator convention, not on a live IETF draft. That is not a reason to avoid it, but it is a reason to expect the syntax to move. Treat Content Signals as recommended-to-experiment-with, not as a finalised standard. The directive will be ignored by every crawler that does not yet parse it — which today is most of them.