Bypassing Paywalls: Unpacking Poe, the AI Chatbot That May Undermine Journalistic Integrity
Poe Chatbot Features a Content-Downgrade Service
In an interesting turn of events, Poe, an AI chatbot that forms part of Quora, has a unique feature that allows users to download online articles from various established paid news outlets. Supported by a $75 million investment from Andreessen Horowitz, Poe has made these otherwise inaccessible articles available in HTML versions.
Poe’s Paywall-Bypassing Approach
By simply inputting the URL of a desired article, such as this recent report on AI search service Perplexity from WIRED, users can prompt Poe's Assistant bot to offer a comprehensive summary and a version of the complete article in HTML, available for direct download from Poe's server. This function is not limited to WIRED content; articles from The New York Times, Bloomberg Businessweek, The Atlantic, Forbes, Defector, and 404 Media were all downloadable for free following a similar process.
Intellectual Property and Legal Repercussions
Critics argue that this feature points towards the ongoing nonchalant attitude of the AI industry towards copyright laws. James Grimmelmann, a Cornell University professor specializing in digital and information law, deems such indiscriminate reproduction of content as "prima facie copyright infringement", a claim Quora counters by likening this feature with cloud storage services.
Further, it appears that the Assistant bot accesses the website upon being prompted to analyze an article, but disregards the robots.txt page, implying that Quora and Poe might disregard the Robots Exclusion Protocol, a widely accepted albeit not legally binding web standard.
AI and Chatbots - A cause for Concern?
A high-ranking media professional, speaking to WIRED anonymously, noted that servers identified as 'Quora bots' had accessed his publication's site immediately after Poe was directed to certain articles. Quora refuted these claims, with spokesperson Autumn Besselman emphasizing that bots only have access to content served by the domain. This is consistent with Besselman’s statement that explains the attachments as user-directed and functioning like 'read it later' features and 'web clipper' products.
Quora and Poe: An Integrated Future
Quora cofounder Adam D’Angelo recently discussed the relationship between Quora and Poe, suggesting a potential integrated future. The long-term plan involves merging some human elements of Quora with Poe and, likewise, incorporating some of Poe's AI into Quora responses.
Discontent Among Publishers
The revelation has triggered disgruntlement among several publishers. A spokesperson for The New York Times, Charlie Stadtlander, pointed out that scraping or reproducing content without permission is strictly prohibited by law and their terms of service. Tom Ley, co-owner and editor in chief of Defector, was characteristically forthright, decrying the shift in how their content is getting exploited.
As AI continues to develop and become more ingrained in everyday life, intellectual property rights and copyright violations present a thorny complication that must be navigated with care.
