AI Startup ProRata Inks Major Media Partnerships With Promise of Compensation and Accurate Attribution
Deals signed so far also include Universal Music Group, The Atlantic, the Financial Times, Axel Springer and Fortune
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ProRata.ai, a new generative AI startup, has set licensing deals with several major media and music companies with the promise that it will provide accurate attribution to source material and a revenue share plan on a per-use basis with publishers, the company announced Tuesday.
Organizations signed so far include the Financial Times, Axel Springer, The Atlantic, Fortune and Universal Music Group. The AI firm is also engaged in advance discussions with other news publishers, media and entertainment companies, and more than 100 noted authors, for content licensing deals.
ProRata raised a $25 million Series A fundraising round from investors Mayfield, Revolution Ventures, Prime Movers Lab and Idealab Studio, an incubator run by tech entrepreneur Bill Gross, according to Axios. Gross, who currently serves as the chairman of Idealab Studio, will become the CEO of ProRata.
“Current AI answer engines rely on shoplifted, plagiarized content. This creates an environment where creators get nothing, and disinformation thrives,” Gross said in a statement. “ProRata is pro-author, pro-artist and pro-consumer. Our technology allows creators to get credited and compensated while consumers get attributed, accurate answers.”
The AI company is setting out to reframe the industry standard surrounding premium content by analyzing AI output compared to the content value to determine proportional compensation for publishers. The company’s attribution and monetization platform has several pending patents.
ProRata also plans to launch their own AI chatbot which will debut this fall.
Michael Lang, President, Lang Media Group and one of the founders of Hulu, is also involved in the venture, aiding in the deal negotiation process and serving as a strategic advisor.
“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,” chairman and CEO of UMG Sir Lucian Grainge said in a statement.
“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,” Financial Times Group CEO John Ridding said.“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.”
The Atlantic CEO Nicholas Thompson added, “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.”
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