AI heavyweights like Anthropic, OpenAI and Stability AI have gotten a lot of flak for how they’ve plundered data and rode rough-shod over others’ intellectual property when training and operating their core models. Now a firm called Story — which today is announcing $80 million in funding — is seeking to redress the scales with a blockchain-based technology to let IP owners track usage more effectively. The goal is to create a more “sustainable” intellectual property environment that is appropriate for the upcoming generation of digital builders and consumers, according to CEO and co-founder S.Y. Lee. According to the startup, its strategy is to employ blockchain technology to enable IP to be thought of as Legos.
License owners could profit greatly by being able to properly capture the value of intellectual property when it is used. As it waits for its platform to gain traction and function as planned, Story is also reaping some major benefits. According to those close to the business, the startup is currently worth $2.25 billion after funding. Story is developing what it calls a “IP blockchain”—a platform and system that will allow content creators to claim their intellectual property, establish usage guidelines for it, and then grant licenses and permission for others to use it.
Story — which Lee co-founded with Jason Zhao, the CPO — is, in a way, the natural progression of these previous experiences.
“If you look at everything from, you know, Netflix to Disney, they pour billions of dollars into content, but really it’s billions of dollars into marketing,” he said. “It’s kind of a zero sum war for attention to get more users and subscribers.”
His previous company, Radish, getting acquired for $440 million made him “rethink the dynamics of the market,” he said.
