Dear Sam (may I call you Sam?),
Thank you. Thank you for addressing the elephant in the room. For delivering some of the best news artists, writers, musicians, and creative people across the world have heard this year:
“I think we do need a new [standard] for how creators are going to get rewarded,” said Altman, whose company develops and runs the ChatGPT chatbot. “We need to find new economic models where creators can have new revenue streams.” ~NYT Dealbook Summit 2024
We at Credtent.org wholeheartedly agree with you that human creators should actually get paid when their work is used for training Large Language Models like ChatGPT.
More than a year ago, we raised this issue when many in the AI industry were still trying to squeeze the concept of “Fair Use” of creative work into places it clearly didn’t belong. As a technologist with ample experience in content curation—and the pitfalls of relying on “Fair Use” to justify using other peoples’ creative work—I’ve seen firsthand how even attribution efforts and traffic boosts claims weren’t enough to compensate creators fairly. It’s refreshing to hear your commitment to changing this narrative and future practice.
The good news is that Credtent has already built the solution to make those payments happen for artists and creators. Credtent ensures content creators get paid when their work is used for AI training–or to opt out, if they prefer. Our platform offers a comprehensive system that bridges the gap between creators of all types (read: all formats) and AI companies like yours. Creators are realizing the seriousness of this issue and they’ve been signing up with us. Now we’re ready to collaborate with you to make AI not only innovative but also ethical.
I’m aware OpenAI already provides a way to opt out of training—I even used it myself. Fun fact: Your system recognized my largely unread first novel (published on Amazon) thanks to its inclusion in Kindle Unlimited. However, your opt-out process was quite limited. I could only submit my name, which, as you might guess, is shared by quite a few Eric Burgesses out there (an astronomer, a board game designer… the list goes on). Plus, there was no way to account for all my creative work and channels of content, let alone distinguish me from my namesakes.
This is where Credtent shines.
As an Independent Content Registry, we provide AI companies with comprehensive lists of creators’ works. Whether creators want to opt out entirely or be paid for inclusion, we’ve got the infrastructure to manage it seamlessly. Better yet, we can help prevent direct reproduction of copyrighted material in your products—a win for everyone involved.
Here’s an interesting stat: Two-thirds of the creators in our registry are open to having their work used for training—when they’re compensated. We’ve developed scalable payment models, licensing structures, and a subscription-based system to ensure equitable payouts and simplified administration for the AI industry.
Imagine an ecosystem where creators are not just protected but actively supported. That’s what we’re offering. One place to register content that will be available to AI tools, large and small. Yes, a standard. We’ve already created standards for AI transparency and provided that to the world at no cost.
In addition to financial fairness, our science team is tackling the issue of content credibility–because it really matters. We’ve seen AI models trained on disinformation or unreliable sources producing misleading results, which is bad news for everyone. Garbage in, garbage out, as the saying goes. By integrating Credtent’s contextual insights into your processes, we’ll help ensure higher-quality outputs for your users while bolstering trust in your products. It’s time to right the future path where AI and humanity are concerned.
Let’s be clear: Credtent isn’t anti-AI. We’re pro-innovation and pro-humanity. We believe AI has the potential to elevate us all, but that vision only really works when we respect and credit the people whose creative output powers these models. With Credtent, we can build a future where creators thrive alongside the technology they inspire. That’s why we’re a certified B-corp with the twin goals of ensuring the agency of artists and creators to control use of their work in AI AND providing a scientific solution to fight AI disinformation.
Please, Sam, drop me a line at eric@credtent.org. Let’s explore how we can collaborate to ensure content creators have a viable way to make a living in the Age of AI. Together, we can lead the charge toward an ethical and credible AI-driven world.
Looking forward to that conversation.
Kind regards,
Eric Burgess
Founder, Credtent.org
Image Credit: TechCrunch, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons