Pay Per Use: when AI uses your work, you should get paid

AI answer engines often summarize web content without driving traffic, depriving publishers of ad revenue and subscriptions. Most publishers cannot individually license their work to every AI company, leaving them with little recourse. Cloudflare’s Pay Per Use beta introduces a centralized system where publishers can set terms and prices for AI companies to access their content. Buyers propose specific uses they will pay for, such as excerpts in search results or product recommendations, and publishers approve or decline offers through a dashboard.

Pay Per Use differs from Pay Per Crawl by charging only for actual downstream use rather than access. Publishers retain control over crawler access and downstream uses, while AI companies identify themselves as verified buyers. Usage is self-reported by buyers via a single API, with Cloudflare aggregating reports, billing buyers, and paying publishers monthly. The system aims to align payments with the value AI products derive from content, potentially increasing revenue opportunities for publishers.

Publishers can track earnings and usage in the Cloudflare dashboard, including which AI companies accessed their content and how often. The platform also integrates with Cloudflare’s Answer Engine Optimization tool to show how AI assistants answer questions about their work. This transparency helps publishers make commercial and editorial decisions, such as prioritizing high-value content or adjusting coverage to better serve AI-driven audiences.

During the beta, Cloudflare is collaborating directly with participating publishers and AI companies to refine the model. The goal is to scale the system so new buyers can onboard without rebuilding enrollment or reporting infrastructure for each publisher. Publishers can set different prices for different uses, such as charging more for recent news than archival content. The beta will determine how to make these pricing and reporting choices practical at scale.