Story Raised $80M to Build Blockchain to Prevent Copyright Theft

Source: TechCrunch

AI giants like Anthropic, OpenAI and Stability AI have faced a lot of heat over how they’ve scraped data and rode rough-shod over others’ intellectual property when training and operating their foundational models. Now a startup called Story — which announced $80 million in funding — is bidding to rebalance the scales with a blockchain-based platform to help IP owners track usage more effectively.

In the words of CEO and co-founder, S.Y. Lee, the aim is to build a more “sustainable” IP ecosystem fit for the next generation of digital consumers and builders. The startup says its approach is to think of IP like Lego and use blockchain to make that possible. “Anyone can fork and remix your IP permissionlessly while you capture the upside,” Lee said in an interview with TechCrunch. (A little ironic to label it “Lego,” given the many IP battles the toy brick company has faced over the years.)

Story is building what it describes as an “IP blockchain” — a system and platform by which it envisions that creators will be able to assert their ownership on a piece of content, set usage parameters around that IP, and then let others license and use it.

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