{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Observation",
  "id": "robots-txt-user-triggered-disagreement",
  "label": "Assistant makers whose docs say user-triggered fetches may ignore robots.txt",
  "question": "Does robots.txt stop an AI assistant from reading my page?",
  "answer": "For automatic crawling, yes. For a fetch a user triggered, three of the four major assistant makers publish that robots.txt may not apply.",
  "value": 3,
  "display": "3 of 4",
  "unit": "count",
  "evidence_type": "analysis",
  "period": "October 2026",
  "period_iso": "2026-10",
  "year_on_year_pct": null,
  "comparison": {
    "label": "state no such exception",
    "display": "1 of 4",
    "value": 1
  },
  "geography": "Global",
  "topics": [
    "generative-engines",
    "governance-risk"
  ],
  "sample": "OpenAI, Google and Perplexity each publish that user-initiated fetches may ignore robots.txt; Anthropic's documentation states no equivalent exception",
  "methodology": "Read from each publisher's own crawler documentation in October 2026. OpenAI: \"Because these actions are initiated by a user, robots.txt rules may not apply.\" Google: \"these fetchers generally ignore robots.txt rules.\" Perplexity: \"Since a user requested the fetch, this fetcher generally ignores robots.txt rules.\" Anthropic states its bots honour robots.txt and names no exception. Silence is not a commitment, so read the fourth as undocumented rather than as a guarantee.",
  "confidence": "high",
  "verified_against_primary": true,
  "source": {
    "id": "openai",
    "name": "OpenAI",
    "type": "platform-data",
    "url": "https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/bots",
    "homepage": "https://openai.com/"
  },
  "located_via": null,
  "last_checked": "2026-10-03",
  "page_url": "https://travel.rankwit.ai/data/robots-txt-user-triggered-disagreement"
}