Story raises $80M at $2.25B valuation to build a blockchain for the business of content IP in the age of AI | TechCrunch

Story, a new blockchain-based startup, aims to address the growing crisis of intellectual property rights in the age of generative AI. By allowing creators to assert ownership and set usage parameters for their content, the platform seeks to ensure that IP owners are credited and compensated when their work is used to train AI models or remixed by others. This approach intends to create a sustainable ecosystem where creators can profit from the open use of their work, much like modular building blocks, thereby rebalancing the scales against major AI firms often criticized for scraping data without permission. The relevance to open_data lies in its challenge to the current norm of unrestricted data harvesting for model training. Story proposes a structured framework where data and creative assets are not just raw material for extraction but valuable, tracked commodities. This shift encourages a more ethical and legally compliant approach to data usage, ensuring that the foundations of open and accessible digital content remain viable by providing economic incentives for authors, artists, and developers to publish on the open internet. Without such mechanisms, the open data commons risks shrinking as creators withdraw their work to protect their livelihoods. Backed by significant venture capital and valued at billions, Story plans to launch commercially later this year, positioning itself as an essential IP layer for future AI solutions. The initiative reflects a broader Web3 evolution, applying blockchain’s transparency and immutability to solve attribution problems that traditional copyright laws struggle to manage at digital scale. This development highlights a critical trend: the intersection of open data, AI ethics, and decentralized technology is becoming pivotal for maintaining the health and continuity of the global creative economy.

Source: techcrunch.com
Published on 2024-08-22