Microsoft adds separate Bing AI training and grounding controls

Microsoft will begin honoring Bing’s new AI Training, AI Grounding, and Limited Grounding preferences on February 1, 2027. The company says traditional Bing rankings will remain unaffected.

Microsoft describes the new preferences as an extension of Bing’s existing controls for how website content appears in AI-generated answers. They separate model-training permission from grounding permission for those answers. Publishers can block one use without losing eligibility for traditional Bing results, according to Microsoft.

Krishna Madhavan, Principal Product Manager, Microsoft Bing, wrote: “offering newer, simpler, and clearer preferences that allow you to make choices about training, grounding, or both while remaining eligible for Bing search results.”

That is a company statement, not an independent result. The announcement provides no click-through data, citation-rate study, sample size, or vertical breakdown. Search owners should distinguish permission from performance. A permission allows use; it does not secure a citation.

What do the three Bing settings control?

• AI Training: Lets publishers allow or prevent content from training AI models.
• AI Grounding: Lets publishers allow or prevent content from helping generate AI answers.
• Limited Grounding: Lets content support Microsoft’s own AI products without supporting Microsoft’s third-party grounding services.

Microsoft says it joins industry peers supporting a shared AI training preference in robots.txt, then adds granular page-level training preferences and a distinct grounding preference for publishers and site owners. The announcement does not identify those peers or include the robots.txt syntax.

A publisher can reject model training yet still permit Copilot to cite the same articles, preserving traditional Bing eligibility without guaranteeing citation volume or placement. Blocking AI Grounding can reduce visibility in AI experiences, but Microsoft says traditional rankings remain unaffected.

The announcement gives no quantified breakdown for publishers or other site types. Nor does it quantify lost citations, traffic, or revenue for any group.

Takeaway: Training and grounding can now be controlled separately.

When will Microsoft enforce the controls?

The announcement sets four dated checkpoints for the rollout.

• December 15, 2026: Temporary grounding controls become available in Bing Webmaster Tools for eligible sites using the older NoArchive or NoCache directives.
• February 1, 2027: Microsoft begins honoring the new preferences as it crawls pages.
• March 1, 2027: Publishers using the old directives must configure the new preferences in Bing Webmaster Tools if they want to maintain their restrictions.
• September 30, 2027: Temporary grounding preferences expire.

The December 15 access date therefore precedes enforcement, while the March 1 deadline gives eligible publishers using older directives time to configure replacements and preserve their prior restrictions.

The announcement does not explain what happens after September 30, 2027, when temporary grounding preferences expire. It also gives no eligibility test beyond the reference to eligible sites and the older directives. That uncertainty limits long-range policy planning, even though the four dates themselves are explicit.

Takeaway: Publishers using old directives must configure replacements by March 1, 2027.

Will these controls change ordinary Bing rankings?

Microsoft says no. The traditional Bing rankings are unaffected, according to the announcement, and sites remain eligible for Bing search results.

Blocking AI Grounding can reduce visibility in supported AI experiences, while Microsoft says conventional Bing rankings and result eligibility remain unaffected by that publisher choice. Allowing AI Grounding does not guarantee a citation, answer placement, traffic increase, or any specific visibility gain.

The announcement supplies no click-through test, citation-rate study, or sample size to quantify either outcome. A publisher can block model training and still permit Copilot citations, or block both uses and remain eligible for traditional results. That last sentence describes eligibility, not guaranteed placement.

Takeaway: AI permissions can change without altering traditional Bing eligibility.

What can Bing Webmaster Tools reveal?

Bing Webmaster Tools also offers AI Performance reporting for citations, cited URLs, and grounding queries across supported AI experiences. The reporting can expose citation and grounding-query patterns, although the announcement offers no reporting window, market coverage, baseline, sample size, or independent validation for publishers.

It also does not say whether preference changes trigger immediate recrawling or alter previously generated answers. A citation should not be treated as proof that the cited page trained a model. That distinction matters because Microsoft separates training permission from grounding permission.

Takeaway: The report shows citations, not whether content trained a model.

Is Google adopting the same controls?

The accompanying article says Google “is also on board, it seems.” That wording signals an inference rather than a confirmed Google announcement. The material does not say whether Google’s participation covers the shared robots.txt preference or all three controls.

Microsoft’s confirmed announcement covers its own controls and dated enforcement, but the Google reference supplies no directive, interface, launch date, or documented equivalence to the three-setting model. The announcement also points to an X forum discussion, but the material supplies no further policy detail there.

Search owners should treat Google’s participation as unverified until Google publishes its own policy.

Takeaway: Microsoft’s rollout is confirmed; Google’s participation is not.

What should publishers monitor next?

Publishers using NoArchive or NoCache should check Bing Webmaster Tools on December 15, 2026, then review AI Performance citations, cited URLs, and grounding queries after Microsoft begins honoring the preferences on February 1, 2027. The March 1 deadline matters for publishers that want to retain their old restrictions, and the September 30 expiry requires a later policy check.

The key caveat remains permission versus outcome: Microsoft controls usage rights but publishes no guarantee of rankings, citations, traffic, or revenue. Publishers should also watch for documentation that resolves Google’s participation and explains what follows the temporary controls.

Takeaway: Verify access and settings, then measure citation and grounding-query changes after February 1, 2027.