Founders in Arms Can Copyright Survive the Machine Era? With Trip Adler (Co-Founder & CEO, Created by Humans)
Jul 18, 2025
Trip Adler, Founder and CEO of Created by Humans, creates a marketplace to help rights holders license content for AI. He dives into the urgent question of how to fairly compensate creators whose work is used for AI training. Adler compares the current landscape to the music industry's transition from Napster to Spotify, discussing three types of AI rights: training, reference, and transformation. He shares lessons from his Scribd experience, the challenges faced by authors versus publishers, and the future of human-AI collaboration in creativity.
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Complex AI Copyright Challenges
- Copyright challenges in the AI era are complex and evolving with early lawsuits shaping the landscape.
- Training AI on pirated content is not fair use, and the long-term market impact is still uncertain.
Engage Authors for AI Rights
- Focus on signing authors directly since they retain AI rights not publishers.
- Build author licensing platforms to proactively license works instead of relying on lawsuits.
Licensing Mirrors Music Industry Shift
- Transition from lawsuits to licensing resembles the music industry's Napster to Spotify evolution.
- Building a marketplace that satisfies creators and AI companies is critical for sustainable content monetization.
