PASADENA, C.A. August 6, 2024 —Idealab Studio, a leading technology incubator, today announced the launch of ProRata.ai, a company founded to enable generative artificial intelligence platforms to fractionally attribute and compensate content owners. Bill Gross, founder and CEO of Idealab Studio, and widely known as the inventor of pay-per-click keyword Internet advertising, will serve as the company’s CEO. ProRata’s technology enables generative AI platforms – for the first time – to accurately attribute and share revenues on a per-use basis with content owners. The company’s attribution technology will protect and reward creators while preventing unreliable content from driving AI answers. ProRata is also building a consumer AI answer engine that will launch this fall to showcase the company’s attribution technology.
“Current AI answer engines rely on shoplifted, plagiarized content,” said Bill Gross CEO, ProRata. “This creates an environment where creators get nothing, and disinformation thrives. 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.”
“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,” said John Ridding CEO, Financial Times Group. “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.”
Sir Lucian Grainge, Chairman and CEO, Universal Music Group, said, “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. 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 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,” said Nicholas Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic. “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.”
“Axel Springer is committed to investing in cutting-edge AI technology to support a sustainable future for journalism,” Jan Bayer, President News Media USA, Deputy CEO Axel Springer said. “We are encouraged by ProRata’s commitment to fair attribution and compensation for news publishers and content owners, and we look forward to collaborating with their team to develop and refine their platform. It’s imperative that innovative teams developing AI-driven technology do so in partnership with journalism organizations.”
“Fortune looks forward to exploring work with ProRata because we believe they place a high priority on proper attribution and compensation for quality content,” said Anastasia Nyrkovskaya, CEO, Fortune. “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.”
ProRata’s technology analyzes AI output, measures the value of contributing content and calculates proportional compensation. The company uses a proprietary algorithmic approach to score and determine attribution. 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. The company’s attribution and monetization platform has several pending patents.
Gross is extremely familiar with the power of digital business model innovation. He invented the pay-per-click monetization model that underlies Internet search. His company, GoTo.com, which pioneered that model in 1998, was sold to Yahoo! (along with the respective patents sold to Google).
The company is in advanced discussions with global news publishers, media and entertainment companies, and more than 100 noted authors. 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. Investors include Idealab Studio, Revolution Ventures, Prime Movers Lab, and the Mayfield Fund.
About ProRata.ai
Founded in 2024 by Bill Gross at Idealab Studio, ProRata’s mission is to ensure that generative AI compensates and credits creators of all kinds for the use of their material, including writers, artists, musicians, animators, illustrators, architects, filmmakers, and more. ProRata builds technology that enables AI platforms to attribute contributing content sources and share revenues pro rata 50/50 on a per-use basis, protecting and rewarding creators while helping to prevent unreliable content from compromising AI answer results. For more information, please visit prorata.ai.
About Revolution Ventures
Revolution Ventures is Revolution’s institutionally-backed early stage fund investing in companies around the country that are attacking large, multi-billion dollar categories. Co-founders Steve Case and Investment Partners Tige Savage, David Golden, and Clara Sieg work with companies that meet their disciplined criteria and form true partnerships with founders to help them build market-leading businesses. Revolution Ventures is headquartered in Washington, D.C. and part of Revolution’s family of funds including Revolution Growth and the Rise of the Rest Seed Funds. Visit us online at revolution.com/ventures.
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