In a recent interview with GamesBeat, Seung Yoon Lee, the cofounder of Story Protocol, expressed his belief that intellectual property (IP) is stuck in a medieval age. He sees the need for a programmable IP layer that will allow IPs to compose, remix, and monetize through onchain rules set by their creators. By turning code into law on the blockchain, Lee hopes to catalyze the “Onchain Renaissance.”
Lee identified a problem known as the “tragedy of the commons,” where human-created art is being hoovered up by generative AI large language models (LLMs) without compensating the artists. The solution, according to Lee, is to establish a blockchain-based system that tracks the provenance of IP and ensures that creators are properly compensated. This programmable IP layer would enable artists to collaborate, monetize, and protect their work in a permissionless and frictionless manner.
Story Protocol has partnered with Magma, an art platform with 2.5 million artists seeking new ways to make money. Through this partnership, Story Protocol will provide its Programmable Intellectual Property (IP) Layer to Magma, allowing artists to register their creations, protect their IP, contribute to existing franchises, or even start new collaborations to monetize their IP. This departure from static JPEGs (typical NFTs) allows creators from around the world to showcase their original content while transparently highlighting any AI used in the creative process.
The rise of NFTs has introduced the concept of ownership and scarcity for digital media files, but Lee believes that NFTs are still limited. With a programmable IP layer, IP owners can set licensing terms for their creations and easily permit others to remix and create derivatives of their work. This programmability removes the need for extensive legal documents and allows for frictionless collaboration.
The partnership between Story Protocol and Magma aims to empower artists and creative teams by integrating IP protection as a pivotal part of the creative process. It simplifies the copyright process, reduces legal risks, and enables artists to prove the extent of human creativity involved in AI-assisted work.
Story Protocol’s founders, Seung Yoon Lee, Jason Zhao, and Jason Levy, are serial entrepreneurs with diverse backgrounds in consumer tech, generative AI, and Web3 infrastructure. The company raised $54 million in funding from top investors like a16z crypto, Endeavor, and Hashed. Magma, on the other hand, is a browser-based art platform trusted by over 2.5 million users worldwide.
The collaboration between Story Protocol and Magma represents a significant step forward in empowering artists with programmable IP that allows for collaboration, monetization, and protection of their work. By leveraging blockchain technology, artists can establish ownership rights, track provenance, and receive proper compensation for their contributions. This new era of programmable IP opens up endless possibilities for creativity and collaboration in the digital art world.