The AI landscape is moving fast, and so are policies governing how your data gets used. At Netlify, we think the principle here is simple: your work belongs to you, and no one should train on it without your say-so.
Our policy is straightforward. We don’t sell your code or content. We don’t use it to train AI models unless you explicitly opt in. It’s that simple. Your use of the platform provides metrics and telemetry that we use to operate and improve the Netlify service itself, but this never includes sharing or selling your IP for AI model training.
As such, when we integrate AI capabilities into our platform, we use API endpoints and vendors that do not feed your data back into model training. The boundary we draw for our own policies also applies to the standards we require from our vendors and ecosystem partners.
Opt-in vs. opt-out matters more than you think. Many platforms bury data usage in terms of service, making you the product by default and placing the burden on you to find the off switch. We think that gets it backwards. Opt-in means you make a deliberate choice to contribute. Opt-out means someone already made that choice for you.
And let’s be honest about what’s driving those defaults. These data licensing agreements are worth millions. We’ve chosen to decline several offers ourselves because of our stance on this matter. Platforms that are willing to take these offers have a significant financial incentive to decide on your behalf that your code and content should be available for training. That’s not a policy choice made in your interest. That’s a revenue stream built on your work.
Developers should have the right to decide when and how their work enters the AI training pipeline. Some will want to participate, and that’s great. Others won’t, and that’s equally valid. The point is that it’s a decision, not a default.
Even with opt-in as our policy, we’re not rushing to flip the switch. Our current roadmap is focused on building amazing developer tools for humans and agents alike. Before we would ever consider offering a way for you to opt-in to AI model contributions, we would want to find the right pattern so that you benefit from any usage of your work, not just us. We won’t pursue this until we can get that part right.
We don’t think this is a radical position. We think it’s a baseline. Your code is yours, and we intend to keep it that way.
