Does ted.com block AI crawlers?
Blocks AI training, allows AI answers
ted.com blocks at least one AI training crawler but still lets AI answer engines read its pages.
Checked from ted.com/robots.txt. Robots rules change; the live file is the source of truth.
- AI crawlers blocked
- 7 of 12
- AI bots named in robots.txt
- 13
- llms.txt
- Not found
- Popularity
- Tranco top 1,000 (#804)
Can AI assistants cite ted.com?
- ChatGPT search: its search crawlers may read the site
- Claude: its search crawlers may read the site
- Perplexity: its search crawlers may read the site
ted.com opts out of AI training by OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Apple, Common Crawl, ByteDance, Meta. Training crawlers and answer crawlers are separate: blocking training doesn't by itself remove a site from AI answers.
AI crawler access, bot by bot
| Crawler | Used for | Status on ted.com |
|---|---|---|
| GPTBotOpenAI | AI training | Blocked |
| OAI-SearchBotOpenAI | AI answers | Some paths restricted |
| ChatGPT-UserOpenAI | AI answers | Some paths restricted |
| ClaudeBotAnthropic | AI training | Blocked |
| Claude-SearchBotAnthropic | AI answers | Some paths restricted |
| Claude-UserAnthropic | AI answers | Some paths restricted |
| PerplexityBotPerplexity | AI answers | Some paths restricted |
| Google-ExtendedGoogle | AI training | Blocked |
| Applebot-ExtendedApple | AI training | Blocked |
| CCBotCommon Crawl | AI training | Blocked |
| BytespiderByteDance | AI training | Blocked |
| Meta-ExternalAgentMeta | AI training | Blocked |
How ted.com compares
- 19% of the 1,278 popular sites we checked block GPTBot; ted.com is one of them.
- 18% of the 1,278 popular sites we checked block ClaudeBot; ted.com is one of them.
- 14% of the 1,278 popular sites we checked block PerplexityBot; ted.com does not.
- Among 196 sites of similar popularity, 30% block at least one AI crawler.
The robots.txt rules that apply to AI crawlers
User-agent: * Disallow: /api/ Disallow: /graphql Disallow: /_next/data/ Disallow: /services/ Disallow: /me.json Disallow: /follows.json Disallow: /translations.json Disallow: /search Disallow: /latest Disallow: /latest-talk Disallow: /latest-playlist Disallow: /people Disallow: /profiles Disallow: /themes/rss User-agent: OAI-SearchBot User-agent: ChatGPT-User User-agent: PerplexityBot User-agent: Perplexity-User User-agent: Claude-SearchBot User-agent: Claude-User User-agent: DuckAssistBot User-agent: MistralAI-User User-agent: YouBot User-agent: PetalBot Disallow: /api/ Disallow: /graphql Disallow: /_next/data/ Disallow: /services/ Disallow: /me.json Disallow: /follows.json Disallow: /translations.json Disallow: /search Disallow: /latest Disallow: /latest-talk Disallow: /latest-playlist Disallow: /people Disallow: /profiles Disallow: /dashboard Disallow: /settings Disallow: /themes/rss User-agent: GPTBot Disallow: / User-agent: ClaudeBot Disallow: / User-agent: anthropic-ai Disallow: / User-agent: CCBot Disallow: / User-agent: Google-Extended Disallow: / User-agent: Applebot-Extended Disallow: / User-agent: meta-externalagent Disallow: / User-agent: Meta-ExternalAgent Disallow: / User-agent: Bytespider Disallow: /
Excerpt: only groups for all user-agents (*) or named AI crawlers, up to 40 rules per group.
Sites with a similar AI policy
- moloco.com · 1 blocked
- zillow.com · 2 blocked
- academia.edu · 7 blocked
- airbnb.com · 3 blocked
- figma.com · 5 blocked
- bandcamp.com · 6 blocked
- hbr.org · 3 blocked
- cbsnews.com · 1 blocked
All sites that are “blocks ai training, allows ai answers” →
Does ted.com block GPTBot?
Yes. As of Oct 2, 2026, ted.com's robots.txt disallows GPTBot, OpenAI's training crawler.
Can ChatGPT search show results from ted.com?
Its robots.txt doesn't block OAI-SearchBot or ChatGPT-User, so ChatGPT's search crawlers may read it. Whether pages are actually shown depends on ChatGPT.
Does ted.com have an llms.txt file?
We didn't find a valid llms.txt at ted.com/llms.txt when we checked.
Data: ted.com's public robots.txt and llms.txt, fetched by AskableHQ. Popularity rank from the Tranco list (ID Y83YG). Methodology.