Photo Credit: Created by Humans
Created by Humans aims to help creators license their works to AI models, receiving a $5 million injection to launch.
In a sea of genAI companies facing litigation from the creative sector over the training of AI models on creators’ works without proper authorization, Created by Humans wants to be the lifeboat.
Billing itself as “the AI rights licensing platform for creators,” Created by Humans is starting its battle with books — encouraging authors and publishers to sign up and claim their works to decide whether to opt in or out of licensing options with AI firms.
The startup has raised $5 million in funding, with plans to expand beyond books to become a platform “where creators of videos, images, music, and even medical data can sell licensing rights for AI training.”
The brainchild of Trip Adler, former CEO of document sharing service turned digital book and news subscription company Scribd, Created by Humans has received funding from “a bevy of prominent investors” led by Craft Ventures founder David Sacks, and Mike Maples, co-founder of Floodgate Fund. Other investors include LAUNCH Fund’s Jason Calacanis, Slow Ventures’ Sam Lessin and Garry Tan, and best-selling author Walter Isaacson. Isaacson also joined the company as a creative advisor and inaugural author whose work can be licensed by AI companies.
The exact details of Created by Humans’ licensing agreement are still evolving. Authors can submit their work for AI companies to purchase specific elements with predefined usage rights. “We’re trying to broker a three-way deal between authors, publishers, and the AI industry,” says Adler. “It’s complicated, but we’re making great progress.”
Currently, the company is proposing a philosophy called the Fourth Law — a set of guiding principles for the way AI companies can use and train models on human-created content. Inspired by sci-fi author Isaac Asimov’s three laws of robotics, Fourth Law states that humans should have the right to consent and control how AI uses their works, and should be appropriately compensated and credited for that work.
“We want [Fourth Law] to be the new standard for how deals work between AI companies and content owners,” said Adler. “Authors and publishers can contribute their content and manage all their content according to the Fourth Law.”
Using Walter Isaacson as an example, Adler explains how creators can choose the rights they want to license from their works. “He can pick training rights, reference rights; he can license the style of his voice, his characters, and pick which AI company he wants to license to,” Adler says. “Then Walter will get a dashboard that shows where his books are being used and how he’s making money.”
Created by Humans is looking to establish a framework for a host of licensing rights, including converting a book into a movie script, and translating it into other languages in real-time. Adler says he envisions “AI revenue” as the next major force in the book industry, eventually eclipsing ebooks and audiobooks.
