ProRata aims to be pro publisher for revenue sharing on AI platforms

By Anabelle Nicoud

The startup took a big step toward realising that proposition in December when it launched a beta version of its new search engine, gist.ai, joining the quickly developing generative search market. Early users could sign up to request early access.

The company also added significant licensing agreements to its growing list of prominent publishers by reaching deals in the UK (late November) with the Guardian, Sky News and DMG Media, publisher of the Daily Mail. DMG also said it will make a "significant investment" in ProRata.

Existential threat

We spoke to Annelies Jansen, Chief Strategy Officer at ProRata.ai, before these latest developments to find out how the company believes their platform will benefit publishers. (WAN-IFRA's upcoming AI Study Tour to Silicon Valley will visit ProRata.)

"We are very cognisant of the fact that there is huge change, an existential threat to the industry. Without a sustainable, forecastable revenue stream, the publishing industry - and the broader content creation industry - will be even more challenged," says Jansen, who also has worked as an executive at Meta.

Tensions between media and tech companies over revenue sharing aren't new, but the rise of GenAI and large language models (LLMs) - trained on vast amounts of content and able to answer questions (in some cases) without citations or links - has only intensified the problem.

While OpenAI has signed various deals with some of the world's largest news publishers - including The Atlantic, El País, Le Monde, Hearst, Meredith, and DoorDash - others, like The New York Times, have opted to sue OpenAI for allegedly stealing their content. The AI-powered search engine Perplexity, which has also signed partnerships with many leading media companies, also faces lawsuits.

Enter ProRata: The company say its technology can assess the value of the content used to generate an AI platform's responses and then calculate the appropriate amount of compensation. This would allow copyright holders to be paid for their content on a per-use basis.

ProRata says its model will remunerate a broad range of content creators - not just in media, but also in music, movies, and publishing. The Financial Times, The Atlantic, Axel Springer, Universal, and authors like Walter Isaacson are already on board, says Jansen.

What makes ProRata different?

"Our goal is to build a new economic model for content creators, based on the principle of attribution - when an AI answer is generated, we can dissect it and credit its original sources," Jansen explains.

"With ProRata, content creators are compensated fairly. The platform opens up the opportunity for pay-per-use revenue sharing based on content attribution," she adds.

ProRata's foundation lies in what it calls "algorithmic attribution" - an advanced system that the company says will evolve much like search engines have over the past two decades.

Bill Gross, credited for inventing the pay-per-click model, is the driving force behind ProRata. Gross has founded over 150 companies, including goto.com, which he rebranded as Overture before selling it to Yahoo in 2003.

"His secret sauce is understanding new economic and business models," Jansen explains. "When he read about The New York Times suing OpenAI, he realised something was missing. There are only two ways to deal with large AI search companies: take them to court or strike a deal. Neither of these approaches is sustainable or provides reliable revenue streams."

ProRata's own AI engine

Jansen says the company's search engine, gist.ai, will only use high-quality licensed content to generate accurate answers, first on the web and then as an app.

"Our first goal is to ensure that attribution is real, with 99.9% no hallucinations," Jansen says. "We're starting with English, but by January, we plan to go global. There's already significant interest from international publishers who want their content translated into English and vice versa. AI can help open up the world, and countries like Switzerland and Denmark are showing strong interest."

The platform will launch as a web proposition first, with an app rollout planned for Q1 2025. "We'll be marketing it through our partners and other digital channels," adds Jansen. She also sees a potential for larger platforms to integrate their tools.

Revenue models

ProRata is also exploring a variety of revenue models, including subscriptions and advertising. "We won't launch with a subscription model initially, but we might introduce subscriptions for specific authors. There are various ways to slice the content, and we're experimenting with these models," Jansen says.

One key principle ProRata stands by is a 50-50 revenue share between the platform and content creators. "We believe creators deserve to keep half of the revenue generated from their work, whether it's through pay-per-use or advertising. This is central to ensuring fair compensation for all content creators."

More partners are set to join ProRata's ranks, she says. "ProRata is unapologetically pro publishers and content creators because we believe content is king," says Jansen.

Small and local publishers won't be left behind, she says. "Our platform is designed to work with high-quality content, whether it's from The New York Times or a local paper in Buffalo."

About the author, Anabelle Nicoud

A freelance journalist and consultant based in San Francisco, Nicoud currently collaborates with The Audiencers newsletter and the Canadian monthly L'actualité.

She has worked with Apple News+ (2022-2024); helped the editorial teams at La Presse (2015-2019) and Le Devoir (2019-2022) with their digital transformation, while leading ambitious editorial projects that have won prestigious journalism awards in Canada and Quebec.

A former journalist for La Presse and correspondent for Libération in Canada, Nicoud is passionate about the impact of technology on the media, she closely follows issues related to the use of artificial intelligence.

WAN-IFRA External Contributor

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