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Author Overview

Updated

Table of contents

1. What is Created by Humans?
2. AI 101: Defining key terms
3. Getting started on Created by Humans
4. What are AI Rights?
5. Monetizing your work’s AI Rights
6. Licensing enforcement

 

 

1. What is Created by Humans?

Created by Humans is an all-in-one platform for licensing books to AI developers.  

We make it simple for authors to opt in or out of licensing the AI Rights of their works to AI developers and get compensated when their work is licensed. 

Our team, led by technology entrepreneur Trip Adler, the founder and former CEO of Scribd, has spent a collective 60+ years working at the intersection of publishing and technology. We are committed to putting control back into authors’ hands.

 

2. AI 101: Defining key terms

We realize AI is new to many creators, so we want to give you an overview of some terms

you’ll see throughout the Author Agreement and product:

  • AI Model: Think of this as the “brain” of an AI system. It studies data, learns patterns from it, and then uses those patterns to predict answers. You likely interact with AI models every day. For example, when you're using a streaming app and receive recommendations for new shows, it's because an AI model has learned from the viewing habits of others with similar tastes. 
  • Training: When an AI model is trained on data, it learns to recognize patterns and understand topics from that information. Imagine a student studying a subject—they might not remember every exact sentence from their textbooks, but they gain enough understanding to discuss the topic and answer general questions about it.
  • Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG): RAG is a technique that helps AI models provide more accurate answers by referencing information before responding. Instead of relying only on what it learned during training, the AI model can look up additional details in real time, similar to how you might search the internet to find specific information for a question. This allows the AI to provide more accurate answers and reference the sources it used and increases the likelihood its output is correct.

  • Prompt: A prompt is the question or instruction you give to an AI model to get a response. Think of it like asking someone for help or information. For example, if you ask an AI model, "How do I change a flat tire?,” that is the prompt. 

  • Output: The output is the answer or response that the AI model provides based on your prompt. Continuing the example above, the AI model’s output to the prompt, “How do I change a flat tire?” will include step-by-step instructions for how to change a flat tire. It’s similar to how a friend might answer your question.
  • AI Rights: AI Rights are what we are calling the category of rights that you can license to artificial intelligence systems. They give you control over if and how AI systems can interact with your works and how your works appear in outputs. Just as a studio doesn’t have the right to create an audiobook based on a book without licensing that right, an AI company doesn’t have the right to do things like learn from, quote, or summarize your work unless you grant them a license to do so and they compensate you. 

3. Getting started on Created by Humans

When you sign up for Created by Humans, you’ll be asked to do a few things. 

Step 1: Register and verify your identity

  • Sign Up: Create an account on our platform.
  • Verify Identity: Complete identity verification through our trusted third-party security provider. This prevents others from impersonating you.

Step 2: Add your books to your dashboard

  • Once registered, our system will automatically suggest books that match your name, and you can add or remove them from your account. 
  • If any of your works aren’t listed, you can easily add them by:
    • ISBN Number: Enter the book’s ISBN.
    • Upload Files: Upload your books as PDF or EPUB files. Created by Humans will manually verify that you are the rights holder before making them available for licensing.

Step 3: Sign the Creator License Agreement

  • Carefully read our Creator License Agreement, which outlines important terms about AI Rights licensing and provides the license language to support your choices within the platform. By signing, you confirm that you understand the agreement, agree to its terms and that you will manage the settings for your works’ AI Rights licensing within our platform.

Step 4: Select which AI Rights you wish to license 

  • You’ll have the ability to decide which AI Rights you want to license for each of your books, ensuring your work is used according to your preferences. The AI Rights you choose to license in the platform will activate the license terms for those rights in the Creator License Agreement.

4. What are AI Rights?

Licensing an AI Right means that you are granting permission to an organization to use your work in its AI model or systems. You have control over what types of AI Rights you license through our platform and whether you wish to move forward with a particular licensing partnership. 

Let’s go into more detail: 

  • Types of AI Rights: There are two types of AI Rights which we offer you the ability to license. 
  • Training Rights, which allow a model to be trained on a licensed work. The model learns from the patterns and content in the work, but it is not able to directly refer to it. 
  • Reference Rights, which allow AI Models to refer to a licensed work stored outside of the AI Model without training on it. Output accurately references licensed works, e.g., via quotes or summaries. There are several different types of Reference Rights you can choose to license. 
  • Refer Only, where the work in the RAG is referenced (for accuracy) but not used in the output.
    • Example prompt: “What symbolic elements are present in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne?”
  • Quotation, where a quote from the work is included in the output, with a limit on the length of the quotes.
    • Example prompt: “Can you provide a notable quote from William Shakespeare's Hamlet”
  • Summary, where a summary of the work is included in the output, with a limit on the length of the summary.
    • Example prompt: “Can you summarize the plot of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen?”
  • Limited Translation, where a portion of the work is translated into the prompted language.
    • Example prompt: “Provide the Spanish translation of the opening lines of A Tale of Two Cities.”
  • Text to Audio, where a text-based work can be reproduced as audio.
    • Example prompt: “Can you provide an audio version of the opening lines of Moby-Dick by Herman Melville?”

Licensing Usage 

Along with choosing the type of AI Rights to license, you can also control which types of licensed users are allowed to use your work.

    • An Internal User is a Licensee’s employees and other internal users, such as students at a specific university. 
      • Example: A program is used by a company’s customer service agents to draft common answers to questions from customers.
    • An External User means a Licensee’s customers or other third-party users, which may be the general public.
      • Example: A chatbot from a technology company allows the general public to ask it questions about any subject, and it provides an answer.

  • Use cases: When you license your AI Rights, you can decide what types of organizations and uses your work will be applied to. Here's a breakdown of the different types of uses you can allow:
    • Non-Commercial: These are for personal or internal business purposes only, meaning the work’s output is not used to make money. 
      • Example: A student uses an AI program to help with research for a school paper.
    • Commercial: These occur in a business setting where the AI model contributes to the business or person making money. 
      • Example: An AI-powered language learning app charges a monthly subscription fee for users.

What is the difference between licensing instant approval and opt-out?

Our goal is to put control in the hands of rights holders. We will present all potential licensing agreements for your review, and you’ll have the opportunity to opt out of any within 7 days. You also have the option of automatically approving all licensing deals that match your criteria. The choice is yours! 

5. Monetizing your work’s AI Rights

Here we answer some of the most common questions related to monetizing your work. 

How is my content licensed? 

When AI companies are looking for content, they are typically seeking specific types of content, with specific AI Rights. Created by Humans aggregates content with associated rights and licenses, and then bundles it for AI companies in a way that maximizes utility and value for the AI companies while optimizing the price for content owners. Created by Humans has standardized the royalty structure for each type of license, but specific pricing is negotiated with each individual AI partner. When pricing for a particular deal is set, you will be notified about the opportunity and given 7 days to opt-out based on the details of the deal.

How much will I make from AI Rights licensing? 

At this point, AI licensing is still a new frontier. Market prices for AI licensing are still being set, the market is growing rapidly, and the amount of money you make may vary depending on the specific book and rights you choose to license. 

We believe that AI licensing represents a major opportunity for the book industry, but as the first platform of our kind, we don’t have comparables for works.  The values currently being paid for AI rights across other media—such as news, video, textbooks, and social platforms—are significant, and we believe the potential for trade books could be even greater. Created by Humans stands firmly with the human creators, and we are dedicated to negotiating contracts that fairly reflect the value of your work.

Who owns a work’s AI Rights? 

If you have a publisher, then the answer depends on several factors, including your publishing contract. It’s likely that some of your AI Rights are jointly owned by you and your publisher. Because of this, our product currently requires both the author(s) and related publisher(s) to opt-in to licensing. 

If you are an independent writer and self-published a book that you wrote alone, then you own its AI Rights, and you’re ready to start licensing. If you self-published and have co-authors, once all authors are aligned within the platform, you’re ready to go. 

When am I paid? 

If a publisher is involved in a particular rights transaction, Created by Humans will distribute payments to publishers, who will then pay authors via the usual channels. If you are licensing written works whose rights are not shared in part with publishers, we will distribute those payments to you directly. Payments to authors and publishers will be made quarterly.

6. Licensing enforcement

Created by Humans’ plan is to be an end-to-end platform to help authors license, manage, and protect the AI Rights they license through the platform. When Created by Humans licenses works to an AI company on behalf of authors, we will monitor and enforce the AI company’s compliance with its contractual obligations. Longer term, we aspire to build technological solutions to monitor all uses of your work, including for rights that you have opted out of in our platform. Created by Humans aims to be your all-in-one dashboard for protecting, licensing, and managing your AI rights, giving you as the author full control of how and when your work is used.

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