Paper | Posth, Richly: TDM-AI - Making Unit-Based Opt-out Declarations to Providers of Generative AI
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TDM·AI is a protocol for creators and rightsholders to inseparably bind their
machine-readable preferences for text and data mining (TDM) to digital media assets,
specifically tailored for training models and applications of generative AI. TDM·AI
addresses the main problem in controlling AI crawlers, namely the problem of metadata
binding, by proposing a reliable method of soft-binding restrictions or permissions to use
content for training models of generative AI to content-derived identifiers.
The TDM·AI protocol utilises the International Standard Content Code (ISCC), a new ISO
standard for the identification of digital media content (ISO 24138:20241) and Creator
Credentials2, based on W3C recommendation for cryptographically verifiable credentials3,
to ensure that verifiable and machine-readable declarations include proper attribution of
preferences and claims to the legitimate rightsholders. Although the protocol has its
origins in the European DSM Directive on Copyright 2019/790, Article 4, it may in many
cases also be applicable to content published by rightsholders outside the EU.