Opt-In AI Database to Protect Creator IP Rights

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

David Harris

[GENERAL] Email address of main applicant

david@coolmcluhan.com

Additional applicants

Aaron Arfman

Piro Vorster

Nick Kumaran

[GENERAL] Please specify how many months you expect your project to last (from 2-12 months)

12

[GENERAL] Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated into English from another language.

No

[GENERAL] Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?

No

[GENERAL] If YES, please describe what the dependency is and why you believe it is essential for your project’s delivery. If NO, please write “No dependencies.” .

No dependencies.

[GENERAL] Will your project’s output/s be fully open source?

Yes

[GENERAL] If NO, please describe which outputs are not going to be open source. If YES, please write “Project will be fully open source.”

Project will be fully open source.

[METADATA] Category of proposal

Identity Solutions

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

Monet Media will develop an opt-in machine learning database for creators to contribute content like text, images, audio, and video. The database will integrate with Atala PRISM for decentralized identity management.

Creators will have full control over their digital identity and data sharing through the self-sovereign ID capabilities of ATALA Prism. Their contributions to the database will be cryptographically verified as originating from their identity.

The database will use blockchain and AI to track usage of contributions and reward creators with Monet tokens proportional to the value of their content's usage. This ensures explicit consent, traceability to source, and fair compensation.

For AI developers, Atala PRISM integration provides trusted, auditable sourcing of training data. They can tap a vast pool of creator-owned content without infringement risk. Developers can focus innovation while creators are incentivized to participate.

On Cardano, this demonstrates how ATALA Prism's decentralized identity system can enable equitable participation in emerging technologies. It shows a path to ethically align AI and human interests through properly aligned incentives anchored in self-sovereign identity.

[IMPACT] How does your proposed solution address the challenge and what benefits will this bring to the Cardano ecosystem?

This project addresses the challenge of enabling ethical AI development that respects intellectual property rights. It directly protects creator IP and provides fair compensation for AI training data.

For Cardano, it demonstrates the power of decentralized identity and blockchain incentives to ethically align emerging technologies with human values. It will attract creators by solving a pressing problem limiting AI adoption. And it seeds an ecosystem of connected applications leveraging self-sovereign data. To ensure that creators have trust in the Monet Media opt-in and rewards system we will also develop a light-touch governance framework to transparently document the rules and parameters of the platform. This would, for example, bring transparency to the asset usage measurements and reward calculation methodologies and anticipated assurance levels within the platform. We will develop this governance framework as a way to bring transparency, trust and sustainability to the platform.

In the next 12 months we will onboard over 100 creators to generate training data and models. Monet Media will use these outputs in service of Monet Media clients, and will reward the creators accordingly. Within 24 months millions of creative works could be available, accelerating development of AI solutions that respect human creativity and property rights.

This brings immense value to Cardano by highlighting its unique capabilities to enable equitable innovation. And it grows the ecosystem with new users, assets, and interconnected applications.

[IMPACT] How do you intend to measure the success of your project?

We will measure success through:

• Number of creators onboarded to the database
• Volume of training data generated
• Number of AI companies using the data
• Creator compensation distributed
• User feedback on data quality and compensation fairness

Having over 100 creators onboarded and compensated within 12 months shows we are providing real value. Generating millions of data assets within 24 months will accelerate AI innovation.

User surveys will validate we are enabling ethical AI and providing adequate compensation. Creator participation and retention will prove our solution drives equitable growth.

This demonstrates direct ecosystem impact by empowering creators and ethical AI companies. It grows active platform users and high-value data assets. And it aligns incentives for continued ecosystem contribution.

[IMPACT] Please describe your plans to share the outputs and results of your project?

We will openly share insights, best practices, and results to advance ethical AI:

• Publish periodic reports on creator compensation and data usage
• Present at conferences on aligning incentives in AI development
• Promote creator success stories showing impact of compensation
• Contribute learnings to Catalyst challenges and Atala PRISM working groups

Our goal is to transparently share knowledge that helps establish standards for equitable AI development and creator compensation. We want to empower wider adoption of incentive models that ethically align humans and technology.

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability?

Our diverse and experienced team has successfully launched numerous technology projects, demonstrating our ability to deliver results. A key example is the development of the Cur8 platform's alpha version, already live, with the beta launching in September. This showcases our rapid progress and ability to execute.

We also played a major role in creating one of the largest digital art collections on Cardano, the Art Bank. This highlights our hands-on expertise in digital art management and display.

Financially, we implement robust controls to optimize funds and ensure transparency. We provide comprehensive budgets, third-party audits, regular reports to stakeholders, and are open to escrow agreements tied to milestones.

Our goal is to be accountable and transparent, maintaining the trust of the Cardano community as we work to successfully deliver this project.

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] What are the main goals for the project and how will you validate if your approach is feasible?

Our main goals are:

1. Onboard 100+ creators in first 12 months
2. Generate 1 million+ training assets in first 12 months
3. Distribute over $50k equivalent in compensation to creators in first 12 months
4. Achieve 70%+ satisfaction in creator compensation surveys

We will validate feasibility through early testing and iterations:

• Start with a small group of creators to refine incentives and compensation
• Rapidly build core functionality to demonstrate value
• Work closely with partner developers to integrate and improve
• Gather continuous feedback from creators on experience
• Adjust model parameters to optimize engagement and fairness

With a flexible agile approach, we will validate product-market fit and build Creator-AI partnerships at scale. 

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed breakdown of your project’s milestones and each of the main tasks or activities to reach the milestone plus the expected timeline for the delivery.

Milestone 1 (Months 1-3): Core Platform Build

• Scope and finalize architecture and tech stack
• Draft governance framework
• Develop minimum viable product (MVP) for creator onboarding and content ingestion
• Integrate wallet and identity management using Atala PRISM SDK
• Launch closed alpha for initial creator onboarding

Milestone 2 (Months 4-6): Content Generation Pipeline

• Build machine learning pipelines for content tagging and processing
• Develop models for usage tracking and compensation calculation
• Onboard first 10+ creators for content generation in return for compensation
• Gather feedback to refine creator incentives and compensation structure
• Implement Monet token model and compensation distribution

Milestone 3 (Months 7-9): Onboarding and Distribution

• Onboard 50+ additional creators and scale content generation
• Launch token incentives for creators proportional to data usage
• Gather feedback to refine incentive models and parameters

Milestone 4 (Months 10-12): Ecosystem Development

• Develop APIs and support for third-party integrations
• Onboard additional AI developers to leverage data
• Launch portal for creators to view usage and compensation
• Publish draft governance framework
• Share open datasets and learnings with community

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] Please describe the deliverables, outputs and intended outcomes of each milestone.

Milestone 1 Deliverables:

• Core platform functionality operational
• Documentation on architecture, tech stack
• User feedback on initial experience
• Draft governance framework

Intended outcomes:

• 10 creators onboarded in closed alpha
• Prove core functionality for ingestion and identity management
• Validate creator onboarding and content submission flow
• Gather initial feedback to refine UI and incentivization

Milestone 2 Deliverables:

• ML pipelines for content processing
• Usage and compensation models implemented
• 10 additional creators onboarded
• User feedback on incentives and compensation

Intended outcomes:

• Demonstrate automated pipelines for asset generation
• Test and refine compensation models with creator feedback
• Expand creator base and content volume

Milestone 3 Deliverables:

• 50+ creators onboarded
• 250K+ assets generated
• Creator feedback on incentives

Intended outcomes:

• Scale creator onboarding and content generation
• Distribute initial compensation to creators
• Iterate on optimal incentive models

Milestone 4 Deliverables:

• Public APIs for integrations
• $10K in compensation distributed
• Portal for creators to view usage
• Open datasets released
• Published governance framework

Intended outcomes:

• Provide transparency into usage and compensation
• Share open data to advance decentralized AI

[RESOURCES & VALUE FOR MONEY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown of the proposed work and resources.

Milestone 1:

• 1 Engineer @ $6,960/month x 3 months = $20,880
• 1 Designer @ $5,220/month x 3 months = $15,660
• Server costs = $3,480
• Total = $40,020

Milestone 2:

• 1 Engineer @ $6,960/month x 3 months = $20,880
• 1 Designer @ $5,220/month x 3 months = $15,660
• Software licenses & services = $7,500
• 10 Creators @ $435 each = $4,350
• Total = $48,390

Milestone 3:

• 1 Engineer @ $6,960/month x 3 months = $20,880
• 1 Designer @ $5,220/month x 3 months = $15,660
• 50 Creators @ $435 each = $21,750
• Total = $58,290

Milestone 4:

• 1 Engineer @ $6,960/month x 3 months = $20,880
• Legal/accounting services = $6,000
• Marketing/community = $5,000
• Total = $31,880

Total Budget: $178,580

Requested: $78,580 or ₳275,000

[RESOURCES & VALUE FOR MONEY] How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

This project provides value by establishing a model for equitable AI development that protects creator rights and enables ethical data sourcing. The costs reflect market rates to assemble a highly skilled technical and product team to build a robust platform.

The engineering costs are based on reasonable market rates for blockchain and machine learning engineers. The product manager cost is typical for an experienced PM. The designer rate is lower than standard as we can utilize talent from our partner suppliers.

The creator incentive budget distributes meaningful compensation to seed initial content generation. And we have budgeted reasonably for legal, marketing, and operations.

Compared to paying to license data from existing sources, building an incentivized creator ecosystem enables more diverse, high-quality training data at lower cost. The model we establish can be replicated across industries to ethically align incentives between individuals and AI systems. And we drive direct Cardano ecosystem development into a key growth area - AI development.

This project punches above its budget weight in terms of potential impact. We provide tangible value to creators and developers seeking to build AI responsibly. And we demonstrate the unique capabilities of Cardano to enable equitable innovation.

[IMPORTANT NOTE] The Applicant agreed to Fund10 rules and also that data in the Submission Form and other data provided by the project team during the course of the project will be publicly available.

I Accept