Key facts
- Story Protocol has rebranded as DATA Foundation, shifting its focus to AI training data infrastructure.
- The DATA Foundation will operate the DATA Network, an on-chain registry to verify the origins, licensing, and consent history of datasets used for AI training.
- The Trace platform will create unalterable cryptographic receipts for data contributions, detailing content hash, consent terms, licensing, and payment proof.
- DATA Foundation is integrating with Kled AI, an opt-in human data marketplace, registering 1.1 billion user-contributed records.
- The company is developing fraud-detection tools to ensure data is real, human, and original.
Story Protocol has rebranded itself as the DATA Foundation, pivoting from general intellectual property licensing to focus on building blockchain-based infrastructure for verifying AI training data. The move addresses the growing problem of AI copyright violations and a data bottleneck faced by AI developers who have exhausted public internet scraping. The DATA Foundation will operate the DATA Network, an on-chain registry designed to verify the origins, licensing, and consent history of datasets used to train artificial intelligence models. The Trace platform, a public audit and search tool, will create unalterable cryptographic receipts for individual data contributions, including content hash, consent terms, licensing, and payment proof, without exposing the underlying data. Avi Patel, founder of Kled AI, a human data marketplace, has joined DATA Foundation as chief data officer. The integration with Kled AI registers 1.1 billion user-contributed records on the new network. Andrea Muttoni, formerly president and product chief at Story Protocol, is now CEO of DATA Foundation, while co-founder Seung-yoon Lee serves as an adviser. The company is also developing fraud-detection tools to ensure that licensed data is verifiably human, original, and legally compliant. This strategic shift follows Story Protocol's $140 million in cumulative venture funding led by Andreessen Horowitz's a16z crypto. An earlier incubation project, Poseidon, focused on AI data processing and raised $15 million in a seed round.