New App Hopes to Empower Artists Against AI

AFP/APP

New York: In 2008, scriptwriter Ed Bennett-Coles experienced a career “death moment” after reading an article about AI writing its first screenplay.

Nearly two decades later, he and his friend Jamie Hartman, a songwriter, have developed a blockchain-based application they hope will empower writers, artists, and other creatives to own and protect their work.

“AI is coming in and taking so many people’s jobs,” Hartman said. Their app, ARK, offers a response to this, asserting: “No… this is our work.” “This is human, and we decide what it’s worth, because we own it.”

With the growing threat of AI impacting intellectual property and livelihoods across creative industries, ARK aims to log ownership of ideas and works from inception to completion.

For example, artists can register a song demo by uploading a file, and the app uses features such as non-disclosure agreements, blockchain-based verification, and biometric security to mark the work as belonging to the creator.

Collaborators can also register their contributions during the creative process. ARK challenges the idea that only the final product holds value, according to Bennett-Coles, who adds that the goal is to protect the process of human ingenuity and creativity so creators can still earn a living from it.

Set for a full launch in the summer of 2025, ARK has secured funding from venture capital firm Claritas Capital and formed a strategic partnership with BMI, the performing rights organization. The app’s creators have put a lot of thought into its development, with Bennett-Coles reflecting, “Growth for growth’s sake is the philosophy of the cancer cell. And that’s AI.”

He likened human-created art to a child accompanying a grandfather to the butcher, emphasizing that the time spent together, such as conversations and the walk to the shop, are as valuable as the purchase itself. Similarly, the journey to the studio and the process of writing a song are integral parts of the creative experience, which AI, they argue, devalues.

For Bennett-Coles and Hartman, ARK represents a “check and balance” in favor of the human creator. They chose a blockchain-based approach because it’s decentralized, allowing creators to retain autonomy over their intellectual property and control over their futures.

App users will pay based on a tiered structure, with pricing determined by storage needs. ARK is designed to stand up in a court of law as a “recording on the blockchain” or “smart contract,” with the aim of modernizing the outdated process of copyright registration.

Both artists argue that their industries have been slow to address the proliferation of AI. Bennett-Coles believes that artists must have their own “death moments” to rise from the ashes and determine how to preserve and maintain what is important to them.