Why Trainspot?

Since the AI boom kicked off in late 2022, there’s been a massive wave of investment and wealth creation, running into the trillions of dollars. AI isn’t just driving tech; it’s driving the markets, and is now making its way into every corner of the economy.

But while the AI boom rests on tech innovation, it would not exist without data. And by “data”, we mean literally the entirety of human knowledge and creativity.

Trainspot is here to give everyone who’s got a stake in AI a place in the AI economy.

If your work can be represented digitally – whether it’s a book, a painting, an analyst report, a 3D model, or a spreadsheet – you have a stake in the AI economy. It’s likely your work is already fueling the capabilities of AI, right now, and that it was taken without your permission.

But as the economic importance of AI becomes clearer and clearer, the tide is turning against “move fast and steal things”. Companies that are building AI-driven products are beginning to pay to license the data they need, as it becomes apparent that it won't do to simply claim that “information wants to be free” and engage in let’s-blind-them-with-science legal sophistry. The writing is on the wall.

Right now, multimillion dollar deals are happening between large companies, negotiated over the course of months by business development personnel and lawyers. This emerging “big training data” market is opaque — there’s no way to know what a fair price for any given work is; and more to the point, there’s no way for the vast majority of content owners to participate.

That’s where Trainspot comes in. By listing your content or data on Trainspot, you make it available for AI companies of all sizes to license it, legally, and transparently, instantly. Trainspot is no harder to use than eBay; listing your content is simple and fast.

At the same time there’s an emerging market in specialized data for specialized applications – here, the value isn’t based on the sheer volume of data, but on the subject matter and the quality of the content. For example: If you’re an AI developer building an app that helps people maintain classic cars, you’ll need very specific information and media about classic cars. In general this is called “grounding data”, and Trainspot is a perfect place to find it, as it allows AI developers to discover relevant data by topic and media type.

We believe that a transparent market for all types of AI data, for all use cases, is precisely what’s needed to support a sustainable, growing AI economy that works for all participants.

It’s time for us to collectively realize the promise of AI — while rewarding everyone whose work fuels this remarkable, promising new technology.