As reported by Music Business Worldwide, ProRata.ai has brought forth technology that it professes will allow generative AI platforms to correctly attribute and share revenues on a per-use basis with content owners.
According to Axios, ProRata secured $25 million in a Series A financing round for its technology, which is backed by several pending patents. Notably, the company’s early investors include Revolution Ventures, Prime Movers Lab, Mayfield, and Technology incubator Idealab Studio.
Bill Gross, chairman of Idealab Studio, renowned as the inventor of pay-per-click keyword Internet advertising, is set to assume the role of CEO at the company.
The company also revealed plans to launch a ‘subscription AI chatbot’ later this year. As per a press announcement on Tuesday, this chatbot, or “AI answer engine,” will serve as a demonstration of the company’s attribution technology. ProRata intends to share the subscription revenues generated from the tool with its content partners.
Universal Music is among the media companies that have licensed their content to ProRata. Additionally, other companies at launch include The Financial Times, Axel Springer, The Atlantic, and Fortune.
ProRata disclosed that it is in advanced negotiations with numerous global news publishers, media and entertainment companies, and over 100 “noted authors”.
The company explained in a press release that its technology “analyzes AI output, measures the value of contributing content and calculates proportional compensation”. Subsequently, it uses its proprietary tech to “score and determine attribution”.
ProRata stated, “This attribution method enables copyright holders to share in the upside of generative AI by being credited and compensated for their material on a per-use basis.
“Unlike music or video streaming, generative AI pay-per-use requires fractional attribution as responses are generated using multiple content sources.”
Axios reported further that ProRata’s CEO plans to license the startup’s large language model to AI platforms like Anthropic or OpenAI, which “don’t currently have a system to attribute the contribution of a particular content owner to its bottom line”.
UMG filed a lawsuit against Anthropic in October for the alleged “systematic and widespread infringement of their copyrighted song lyrics” via its chatbot Claude.
Sir Lucian Grainge, Chairman and CEO, Universal Music Group, expressed his support for ProRata, stating, “We are encouraged to see new entrepreneurial innovation set into motion in the Generative AI space guided by objectives that align with our own vision of how this revolutionary technology can be used ethically and positively while rewarding human creativity.”
Grainge further added, “Having reached a strategic agreement to help shape their efforts in the music category, we look forward to exploring all the potential ways UMG can work with ProRata to further advance our common goals and values.”
ProRata’s senior leadership team and Board of Directors include executives who have held senior leadership and engineering positions at Microsoft, Google, and Meta, as well as board members and advisors with extensive media and digital experience, including Michael Lang, President, Lang Media Group and one of the founders of Hulu.
“Current AI answer engines rely on shoplifted, plagiarized content,” said Gross. “This creates an environment where creators get nothing, and disinformation thrives.”
Gross emphasized, “ProRata is pro-author, pro-artist and pro-consumer. Our technology allows creators to get credited and compensated while consumers get attributed, accurate answers. This solution will lead to a broader movement across the entire AI industry.”
John Ridding CEO, Financial Times Group, highlighted the significance of aligning the incentives of AI platforms and publishers, stating, “There is an urgent need and opportunity to align the incentives of AI platforms and publishers in the interests of quality journalism, the reader and respect for intellectual property.”
Ridding continued, “ProRata’s approach – identifying source material and sharing resulting revenues between technology companies that use it and publishers that create it – can help develop a healthier and fairer information ecosystem that encourages accurate and authoritative journalism and rightly rewards those who produce it.”
Nicholas Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic, expressed the importance of properly crediting and compensating publishers, stating, “ProRata is working to solve one of the most important issues in AI: how can LLMs properly credit and compensate the publishers of the work they depend on.”
Thompson emphasized, “With this partnership, we are working with them to establish first principles for media and AI – in a way that values, respects, and protects the exceptional talent and intense work of journalists and creators. We hope to see this approach to permissions, content controls, clear attribution, and fair value become the industry norm.”
Anastasia Nyrkovskaya, CEO, Fortune, affirmed the publication's interest in working with ProRata, stating, “Fortune looks forward to exploring work with ProRata because we believe they place a high priority on proper attribution and compensation for quality content.”
Nyrkovskaya added, “The goal is to work together to bring Fortune’s world-class business journalism, valuable archives, and authoritative lists to new audiences with ProRata’s innovative approach to AI.”
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