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AI giant likeAnthropic , OpenAIandStability AIhave faced a mint of rut over how they ’ve kowtow data and rode rough - shod over others ’ intellectual property when training and operate their foundational models . Now a startup calledStory — which today is harbinger $ 80 million in funding — is conjure to rebalance the scales with a blockchain - ground platform to help IP owners get over usage more effectively .
In the word of honor of CEO and co - beginner , S.Y. Lee , the object is to build a more “ sustainable ” IP ecosystem fit for the next genesis of digital consumer and builders . The inauguration says its approach is to think of IP like Lego and use blockchain to make that potential . “ Anyone can fork and remix your IP permissionlessly while you enamour the upside , ” Lee said in an interview with TechCrunch . ( A little dry to label it “ Lego , ” give themany IP battlesthe toy brick fellowship has face over the eld . )
The round is being led by Andreessen Horowitz , specifically its a16z crypto class , with crypto investor Polychain Capital also participating , alongside Scott Trowbridge ( the SVP of Stability AI ) ; K11 founder Adrian Cheng ; and Cozomo de ’ Medici , the digital artistic production accumulator whotook on an aliasto call forth the famous Renaissance family . The new financial support , a Series B , contribute the amount raised by Story and its parent , PIP Labs , to $ 143 million .
Being able to best becharm the value of IP when it gets used has the potential to bring in a circle of money to license owner . In prediction of its platform getting traction and working as see , news report itself is realizing some substantial value , too . We understand from sources closelipped to the company that the inauguration is now valued at $ 2.25 billion military post - money .
Story is build what it name as an “ IP blockchain ” — a organisation and chopine by which it fancy that creators will be able to assert their ownership on a piece of content , set usage parameters around that IP , and then permit others license and use it .
How exactly that will go in practice still persist to be pick up , though . The plan is to utilize the funding to preserve build out the product — train for a commercial-grade launching later this year , per Lee . Up to now , the inauguration has been adding drug user by fashion of a devoid , shut genus Beta .
It says more than 200 team — and “ more than 20 million addressable IPs ” — are show on the platform so far , a result of partnerships with fashion design tool Ablo , Nipponese comic chopine Sekai and art collaborationism startup Magma .
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Chris Dixon , who co - led the investing for a16z with Carra Wu , believes that unexampled applications based on reproductive AI and other developments like it will be massively disrupting the economic models that traditionally underpinned how masses made visual art or literature or euphony ( or any other variety of “ content ” as it ’s typically describe these days when it ’s digital ) . To keep the market for creativity thriving , a raw way of monetizing content ask to be introduced , is the dissertation .
“ A fresh wave of AI - power hunting engine give comprehensive answer rather of guiding user to websites . Social networks are increasingly populated by AI - return images and video , ” Dixon write in ablog post . “ These AI system were likely aim on original , man - create capacity but often do n’t recognition or cite their sources . If there ’s no attribution or recompense , what incentive will there be to issue original creations on the open internet ? ”
AI systems are just one area where content is being used and will be used in the time to come , but they are a significant one , which is why Story is not the only role player in this infinite . Just last week , another inauguration , called Sahara AI , announced $ 43 million in fundingto build out its own approach to turn to the interrogation of how best to trail and monetise IP in the age of AI .
“ tarradiddle spot itself from Sahara by focusing on the IP and data layer of AI solutions rather than the existing AI infrastructure deal , ” Lee told me in reaction to a question about how the two are different from each other . “ While Sahara appear to point noetic property concern , these are mostly focus on data point which is very different from the sound authorities of IP . Story see potential drop for partnership as the IP level of solution like Sahara and Ritual . We can become closelipped pardner . ”
Lee himself has had a front - row seat to the story ( so to speak ) of content in the digital age . He started out as an enterprising journalist in the U.K. when he establish a program calledbyline.comin 2014 . He then built a crowdsourced , serialized fabrication app called Radish ( a challenger to the the likes of of Inkitt and Wattpad ) , which eventually hesold to Kakaofor $ 440 million .
history — which Lee co - found with Jason Zhao , the CPO — is , in a way , the natural progression of these previous experiences .
His previous company , Radish , getting produce for $ 440 million made him “ rethink the moral force of the market , ” he said .
“ I was drawing a lot of my venture capital money out for marketing , ” he lend , say this is his attack to build a different model to forefend that for creators of the future .
Whether it will exploit , and whether Godhead want to utilize it , are query that are yet to be answered .
Those who believe they have a curl on how to vest for future scenario are bullish , though .
“ What Bitcoin did for money and finance , Story is doing for content and IP , ” say Olaf Carlson - Wee , the founder and CEO of Polychain Capital , in a program line . “ Web3 ’s first stage was triggered by the 2008 financial crisis , leading to a revolution on money through networks like Bitcoin and Ethereum . Now advancements in AI are trip a second phase angle in Web3 , which will revolutionize IP . ”
