What Is LLMs.txt & Should You Use It?

Imagine this: You’ve spent hours crafting the perfect blog post, carefully selecting every word to share your knowledge. Then one day, you discover an AI chatbot casually spitting out your hard work – not just the ideas, but sometimes even your exact phrasing – without credit or compensation. This isn’t a hypothetical scenario; it’s happening right now across the internet.

Enter LLMs.txt – a simple but potentially powerful tool that puts a “Do Not Disturb” sign on your digital content for AI companies. Think of it like the “robots.txt” file you might have heard about, but specifically designed for the age of AI. It is basically a plain text file you can add to your website that gives instructions to companies and developers who train large language models (LLMs), like ChatGPT or other AI systems, about whether they can use your website’s content for training. The idea is to give website owners more control over how their words, images, and other materials that are used by AI companies.

The AI Gold Rush and Your Content Is the Gold

AI doesn’t magically “know” things. It learns by devouring mountains of online text-books, blogs, forums, you name it. The problem? Much of this feasting happens without permission.

Journalists wake up to find AI summaries of their paywalled articles.

Small businesses see their product descriptions recycled in chatbot replies.

Programmers watch their open-source code get absorbed into AI tools that then compete with them.

It’s like someone photocopying your diary, selling it as their own novel, and saying, “Well, you left it on your desk!”

Why This Matters Now More Than Ever

Every time you publish online – whether it’s a professional portfolio, a personal blog, or a business website – there’s a chance AI companies are quietly using your work to train their models. While some view this as fair game because after all, it’s publicly available, others feel it crosses a line, especially when:

• Original creators get no credit
• Paywalled or proprietary content gets scooped up
• Small businesses find AI competing with their own services

LLMs.txt gives you a way to at least state your preferences clearly, even if enforcement is still evolving.

How It Works 

Create a simple text file named “llms.txt” (no fancy software needed)

Write plain English rules like:

• “ChatGPT: Please don’t train on my content”
• “All AI models: Feel free to learn from my blog posts”

Upload it to your website’s main folder

That’s it. When AI companies crawl your site if they choose to play nice,  they’ll see your instructions.

The Big Question: Does It Actually Work?

Here’s the honest truth:

The Good: It’s better than nothing. Some AI companies may respect it, especially as public pressure grows.
The Reality: There’s no guarantee all companies will comply with it yet.
The Smart Move: Combine it with other protections like clear copyright notices.

Who Should Use This Right Now?

✔ Writers & Artists who want to protect their unique voice
✔ Small Businesses with proprietary how-to guides or product details
✔ Anyone who believes consent should matter in the AI age

Even if adoption is slow, adding LLMs.txt:

• Takes just minutes
• Makes your stance clear
• Helps build the norm that content creators deserve a say

Whether you should use it or not that depends on your goals:

• If you don’t want your content used for AI training, then yes – it’s worth adding an LLMs.txt file to protect your work.
• If you don’t mind or even want AI to learn from your site (for visibility or sharing purposes), you can skip it or set it to “allow.”
• Keep in mind, it’s voluntary as mentioned earlier  not all AI companies may follow it yet. It’s more of a signal than a legally enforceable block.

Why This Isn’t Just a Tech Geek Debate

This isn’t about “stopping progress.” It’s about fairness. Imagine:

• A recipe blogger loses traffic because an AI gives away her signature dish for free.
• A mental health forum’s posts get fed into a chatbot, exposing vulnerable users.
• A novelist finds their unpublished draft snippets in an AI’s responses.

Without guardrails, the internet – built by people becomes a free buffet for corporations.

The Bigger Picture: Who Controls the Internet’s Brain?

This isn’t just about one text file. It’s about asking:

“Should a handful of tech companies get to decide how humanity’s knowledge is used?”

LLMs.txt won’t solve everything. But it’s a start – a way for individuals and small players to say:

“My work isn’t just free training data.”

The bottom line? If you care about how your online work gets used, it’s worth spending those five minutes to add LLMs.txt as these might not be a perfect solution today, it represents an important first step toward balancing innovation with creator rights.At worst, it does nothing. At best, it could help protect your digital legacy as the rules catch up with technology.

Because if we don’t draw the line now, we might not get another chance.

If you’re using digital marketing services to grow your brand, consider adding LLMs.txt as part of your broader approach to protecting and maximizing the value of your online work.