Building the Future of Ethical AI

We believe creators deserve fair compensation when their work powers the AI revolution. Our mission is to make that happen.

Our Mission

To ensure creators are fairly compensated when their content is used to train AI models, while providing AI companies with ethical, high-quality licensed content.

We're building the infrastructure for a future where AI development and creator rights coexist harmoniously - where innovation doesn't come at the expense of the people who create the content that powers it.

Think of us as the "ASCAP/BMI for the AI age" - creating a global standard for content licensing that works for both creators and AI companies.

Q4 2024

Meta Tag Standard Created

Q2 2025

Patents Filed

2025

Creator Onboarding Begins

Our Values

The principles that guide everything we do at copyright.sh

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Fairness

Every creator deserves compensation when their work generates value. We ensure 90% of licensing fees go directly to creators, not middlemen.

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Transparency

No hidden fees, no black box algorithms. Creators see exactly how their content is used and what they earn from every transaction.

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Innovation

We're solving a new problem with cutting-edge technology. HMAC verification, real-time tracking, and global licensing infrastructure.

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Empowerment

Creators control their content, set their own rates, and can opt out anytime. True ownership means true control.

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Global Impact

Building a worldwide standard for AI content licensing that works across borders, currencies, and legal systems.

Simplicity

Complex problems don't need complex solutions. One meta tag, automatic payments, zero bureaucracy.

Our Story

copyright.sh was born from a simple observation: the AI revolution is built on the work of millions of creators who receive nothing in return.

"I watched my publishing income collapse from $27 CPM to under $3 as Google and AI companies extracted value without compensation. After building AI applications myself, I realized creators needed a direct licensing solution - not more middlemen taking cuts."

When ChatGPT launched in 2022, it became clear that AI models were trained on vast amounts of copyrighted content - articles, books, research papers, code, and creative works. The creators of this content? They received nothing while AI companies built billion-dollar businesses.

"I just don't know how you go around, asking everyone first. I just don't see how that would work." - Nick Clegg, Meta President

This dismissive attitude toward creator consent sparked our mission. If Meta and OpenAI thought it was "impossible" to ask permission and pay creators, we'd prove them wrong.

In Q4 2024, we developed the distributed licensing meta tag standard. In Q2 2025, we filed provisional patents for our technical approach. Now we're building the infrastructure layer between AI companies and content creators—using simple meta tags, cryptographic verification, and automated payments to make it not just possible but easy for AI companies to license content ethically.

We're currently in pre-launch mode, finalizing our creator onboarding system and working with select AI companies to integrate our licensing API. Every creator who joins our platform, every AI company that chooses ethical licensing, and every payment we facilitate brings us closer to a future where AI development and creator rights work together, not against each other.

The Cycle of Disruption and Resolution

How technology disrupts creators, then activists and innovators fight back to build fair solutions

🚨 Technology Disrupts
⚖️ Rights Restored

Napster Destroys Music Industry

Napster enables widespread music piracy, devastating artist revenue. Record industry files lawsuits but piracy spreads across P2P networks, crushing CD sales and artist income.

1999 - 2003

iTunes Creates Legal Alternative

Steve Jobs partners with record labels to launch iTunes Store. "99¢ per song" creates the first successful digital music marketplace, providing legal path that benefits both artists and consumers.

YouTube's Piracy Free-for-All

YouTube grows by hosting massive amounts of user-uploaded copyrighted content. DMCA safe harbor protections enable YouTube to profit while creators face endless takedown whack-a-mole.

2005 - 2010

ContentID Technical Solution

YouTube develops ContentID system allowing creators to automatically claim and monetize their content. Imperfect but lets creators earn from uploads rather than just fighting them.

Google Books Mass Scanning

Google scans millions of copyrighted books without permission. Authors Guild fights for over a decade. Google wins on "fair use" grounds, setting precedent for massive content appropriation.

2005 - 2016

Streaming Royalty Reforms

Musicians organize against low Spotify payouts. Taylor Swift pulls catalog from Spotify. Industry pressure leads to improved royalty rates and transparency for streaming platforms.

AI Training Data Theft

ChatGPT reveals AI models trained on massive copyrighted datasets - books, articles, websites. Scale dwarfs previous disruptions: millions of creators' work used without permission or payment.

Nov 2022

Creator Legal Uprising

Authors Guild, New York Times, Getty Images file major lawsuits. Sarah Silverman, Michael Chabon join class actions. Legal advocacy groups rally unprecedented creator defense.

Big Tech "Not Scalable" Claims

Meta's Nick Clegg argues paying creators "isn't scalable." AI companies claim technical impossibility of licensing while building billion-dollar businesses on stolen content.

2023 - 2024

Publisher Licensing Proves Viability

OpenAI signs licensing deals with AP, Financial Times, and other major publishers for hundreds of millions. Proves licensing IS technically possible at scale.

Individual Creators Still Excluded

While major publishers get deals, millions of individual creators - bloggers, researchers, musicians, writers - remain excluded from AI licensing revenue streams.

Q4 2024

copyright.sh Democratizes Licensing

Technical solution for ALL creators: distributed meta tag standard extends licensing benefits beyond major publishers to every content creator at web scale.

Next Disruption Coming...

The pattern repeats: new technology will emerge, exploit creator content, claim "fair use" or technical impossibility of payment. But now we have the infrastructure ready.

Future

Rights Infrastructure Ready

Just as iTunes solved music and ContentID solved video, copyright.sh provides lasting technical infrastructure. Creators protected from day one of next disruption.

Meet Our Team

The people building the future of ethical AI licensing

TM

Tyler Martin

Founder & CEO

Creator and technical founder focused on building fair infrastructure for AI-creator relationships. Previously built content platforms and AI applications.

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Early Team

Growing

We're building our founding team of engineers, legal experts, and creator advocates. Join us in creating the future of ethical AI licensing.

Join the Movement

Be part of building a fair future for creators and AI. We're preparing to launch creator onboarding and are seeking forward-thinking AI companies to partner with.