RECLAIMING OWNERSHIP
The truth of AI and the case for Moments’ social media minting platform.
Social media thrives on content—your posts, ideas, and creativity. Yet, creators rarely own or profit from this data. Platforms reap the rewards, and now, with AI’s rise, the stakes are higher.
AI technological capability leaps are incredible. The amount of time and resources saved are significant. We use them sometimes, and so can artists. We are not against AI, but we are against un-ethical AI. Personal and independent data is being trained on, creative styles being disenfranchised, voices and faces mimicked, ideas stolen and spread before the original ever had a chance their notoriety. If AI is going to push humanity to the next stage, we must fight for it to be ethical. Giving people the option to opt-out of training such that personal IP can drive your marketability in the age of AI and data is common sense. Humans and technology must form a bond of mutual respect. An AI that trains and absorbs everything about people and their identities without consent or knowledge of the implications is not the way. These things are worrying in a bigger sense than on an individual level. If humanity’s creative spirit is only rewarded in one dimension – one that is AI-optimized – we as a collective species will close paths of exploration due to incentives being usurped.
Sceptics to our Ethical AI argument say “people just don’t care, they love their Ghibli avatar and ease of use.” Yet this argument fails to take in the broader perspective of human nature. When inevitably some scammer starts using AI generated faces and voices of our loved ones for financial gain, “AI” will become a loaded term.
The answer of navigating ethical AI is a complex interplay of culture, technology and geopolitics. But here is the most important truth. The most important person who will determine what impact AI has on their life is you. The answer to “how will AI impact me” is largely determined by how much you care to act. If you don’t care what happens with your data, then you are leaving your fate in the hands of the AI and its controller. That is the reality.
This is the area where Moments is spearheading its approach. We treat data like a commodity and handles it in a way that makes common sense. When you create something that captures the worlds imagination you should be able to stake your claim in its ownership. Incentives need to work for you, the AI/tech companies wanting to use your data, and the platform bridging the trusted connection: Moments. AI companies want to sell high quality services by using good data, you want ethical use of your data, we want to service both interests on our scalable, decentralized and trusted platform. Let’s look at an example. You write an article about your beliefs on AI and its impact on farming. let’s assume you are lifelong respected expert, and this article does great. People are engaging, the post gets shared, liked, comments, others use it as a source for their YouTube channel or podcast, it generates SEO impact for months and is the basis of content for many other creators. Great. Now what did you get out of it? Probably some name recognition and followers. But perhaps this was a once in a lifetime article for you, you might not plan to do this every day.
So how can the huge amount of value you created with your article be brought back to you? This is really the crux of the matter. There are many types of value that were generated from your article. Advertising, knowledge, a network of interest, data for training, and many more explicit or intrinsic types of value.
Here are five reasons why turning your article into a Moment (a Cardano native NFT) could become a game changer:
1. Empowered verifiable ownership.
2. Monetization of your popularity.
3. Monetization of your data.
4. Own your data’s permanence and digital presence.
5. Platform governance power.
Reason 1: Empowering Creators with True Ownership
Creators often face challenges with platforms owning or controlling their content, limiting their ability to profit directly. Minting your posts as Moments addresses this by providing a verifiable claim recorded immutably on the blockchain ledger. Cases to claim IP are empowered by your self custodied on-chain verification. Proof of authorship and IP opens roads to clearer references, giving you recognition, protecting against unauthorized use and revenue streams in return for usage.
Reason 2: Monetization of your popularity
Moments open new avenues for the monetization of your popularity by tokenizing advertising rights. The Moments platform allows users to add custom advertisements on their Moments unique website URL. Rights to this ‘digital real-estate’ can become a revenue stream. As Moments are NFTs they are also tradeable assets. NFTs serve as a tradeable conduit for transferring the advertising rights around the valuable attention your Moment creates.
Reason 3: Monetization of your data
Social media platforms have established the value of data with large revenue streams from AI companies, analytics companies and other digital service companies to use user data. By pooling data together with communities on Moments such data-use-agreements are also possible for users. Data Unions are a concept of the future that we are pioneering such that community pooled data can negotiate revenue streams in return for collective data-use rights.
Reason 4: Own your data’s permanence and digital presence.
The self-custodial nature of Cardano accounts (wallets) is powerful for proving full ownership of your digital presence. By the technical nature of a wallet, there is no platform, company, organization or individual which can deny your account and the permanent digital assets (NFTs) it contains. Owning and verifying your (creative) identity in the digital landscape and keeping your data unchanged across generations may prove to become immensely valuable. As we enter the age where fake data is cheap to generate and flood the internet, owning your data’s truth may become valuable in a way we have yet to explore. Your voice of immutable truth may prove to become a valuable source to future generations attempting to dis-entangle the fake from the real. Where huge efforts are made to verify if a van-Gogh painting is real, to establish its value our digital interactions may soon also fall into this realm. Moments put you in control for such a reality.
Reason 5: Moments give platform governance power.
Moments is not built to be a “HODL Moonshot Degen token project”. That is boring. Rather we are building a grass roots open data platform that is continually evolving and growing. Minting Moments that adhere to our minimal standards result in irrevocable governance power to the creator. Data creators, curators and engagers are the force that grow the platform. Common sense dictates that these parties have a say in the platform’s future.
The world is heading to an AI integrated future where data, energy and computer-chips will become the backbone of power and value. We can’t all product energy and computing chips, but we can all take more control of our data. To turn the AI Cambrian explosion into a success for everyone, including you, start taking control of your data. Start owning your digital legacy. Start owning your Moment.
Start owning your Moment.
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