Ringfence has closed a $1.5 million seed round to build the first platform that ensures creators get paid when AI models use their original work to generate new content.
Ringfence, the first generative AI platform to ensure creators are paid for the use of their original work within AI-generated content (AIGC), has announced the successful closing of its $1.5 million seed round. The round was led by Rarestone Capital and Morningstar Ventures with participation from Spark Digital Capital, Curiosity Capital, Noir Ventures and other leading funds and angel investors. The raise signals growing investor confidence that the intersection of Web3 and artificial intelligence will require new infrastructure to handle questions of ownership and attribution, questions that the industry has so far largely sidestepped.
Ringfence is the first platform dedicated to ensuring Web3 and generative AI work in the favor of creators. Right now, courts are struggling with how to apply intellectual property laws to generative AI. As Forbes recently pointed out, the legal landscape remains largely uncharted, leaving creators with few options when their work is scraped and repurposed without consent or compensation. Ringfence provides the infrastructure for creators to store and protect various media including photos, images, videos, documents, and music. Creators who want to monetize their content can verify ownership and authorize AI to use their files to create new AIGC. Additionally, Ringfence allows creators to mint their AIGC on any EVM-compatible chain using LayerZero's OFT standard, allowing fungible tokens to be transferred across multiple blockchains without asset wrapping, middlechains, or liquidity pools.
Ringfence Founder Whitney Gibbs says, "As Web3 and AI integration advances, it is estimated to evolve into a trillion-dollar market opportunity that remains relatively nascent in terms of attribution and digital provenance. We believe creators should decide how and when AI uses their work, and they should always be fairly compensated when it does. Our team is compelled to solve this with a tangible, scalable, and convenient solution that will ultimately be symbiotic in the growth of AIGC."
Rarestone Capital Founder Charles Read says, "We are excited to tackle one of the toughest challenges in the market and support the future of Web3 creators and AI. Ringfence will be critical to ensure creative and monetary power always remains with creators, with the flexibility to decide how, when, and where to use their content."
Ringfence empowers creators with access to features such as free unlimited cloud storage, content ownership verification to establish digital provenance, and perpetual compensation anytime AI uses their content for model training. This perpetual compensation model is what sets the platform apart. Rather than a one-time licensing fee, creators earn ongoing revenue each time their stored files contribute to new AI outputs, creating a sustainable income stream that reflects the ongoing value of their original work. Additionally, creators can access Ringfence's powerful AI engines to create a variety of content mediums and use Ringfence to tokenize their art without ever leaving the platform.
The timing matters. As generative AI tools become more capable and widely adopted, the volume of AI-generated content flooding the internet is only accelerating. Without a system like Ringfence in place, creators face a stark choice: accept that their work will be used without attribution or payment, or opt out of digital platforms entirely. Neither option is sustainable for the creative economy in the long run.
Ringfence plans to release its beta in Q1 2024. Creators can register for the waitlist at ringfence.ai.
Ringfence is the first generative AI platform to ensure creators are paid every time their original artwork is used to create AI-generated content (AIGC). The platform enables creators to store photos, images, videos, documents and music, protecting all of their content from unwanted use by AI. If a Ringfence Creator decides they would like to monetize their content, they can easily verify ownership and authorize AI to use their files to create new AIGC. Ringfence also allows creators to mint their AIGC content on any chain, through the LayerZero protocol.
