Creative Commons Launches CC Signals

credits: Creative Commons

Creative Commons, the nonprofit open licensing system, is stepping into the AI conversation. They’ve just introduced something new called CC Signals, a framework designed to help creators, including photographers, say whether or not they want their work used to train AI models.

The idea is pretty simple: just like CC licenses let you tell people how they can use your work, CC Signals would let you tell machines (and the people behind them) how your content should (or shouldn’t) be used. It’s especially aimed at companies scraping public data to train AI systems, and it’s meant to offer a clearer, more ethical way forward in an era where that line is getting blurrier.

“CC Signals are designed to sustain the commons in the age of AI,” said Anna Tumadóttir, the org’s CEO. The point, they say, is to strike a balance — between open knowledge and fair treatment of creators — instead of letting things slide into either full data grabs or walled gardens. Right now, the framework is still a work in progress, and Creative Commons is asking for feedback from the public before a full alpha release planned for November 2025.

You can see full details on Creative Common’s website here