The Missing Ingredient: How AI Companies Are Stealing Digital Content Like Stolen Produce
Imagine you’re at a ramen shop in Kamakura. The chef sources fresh ingredients from local farmers, pays fair prices for quality produce, and creates a delicious bowl of ramen. You pay for your meal, knowing that everyone in the supply chain—from the farmer to the chef—has been fairly compensated for their contribution.
Now imagine if that ramen shop just took the ingredients without paying. No compensation to the farmers who grew the vegetables. No payment to the suppliers who provided the meat. No respect for the value of the ingredients that make the meal possible.
That’s exactly what’s happening with AI training data.
The Real Problem
Let’s break down the ramen-AI analogy:
| Ramen Shop | AI Company |
|---|---|
| Buys ingredients from farmers | Should buy data from creators |
| Pays for quality produce | Should pay for quality content |
| Builds relationships with suppliers | Should build relationships with content creators |
| Creates meals with paid ingredients | Creates AI with paid data |
| Serves customers who pay for the experience | Serves users who pay for the AI service |
But here’s what’s actually happening:
Large language models and generative tools are being trained on:
- Songs from SoundCloud
- Artwork from DeviantArt
- Code from GitHub
- Blogs and journals written by humans… like this one
All scraped. All uncredited. All unpaid.
AI companies are cooking gourmet AI products using ingredients they didn’t grow, buy, or ask for.
Real Example
In 2023, a group of authors—including Sarah Silverman—sued OpenAI and Meta for training their LLMs on pirated book datasets (source: The Verge).
These weren’t just “books on the internet.” They were full PDFs illegally scraped from shadow libraries.
Why It Matters
When we let AI be trained on stolen content:
- Creators lose value (like farmers not getting paid for their produce)
- Audiences lose trust (like customers not knowing if their food is ethically sourced)
- The AI economy becomes a house built on theft (like a restaurant chain built on stolen ingredients)
This isn’t innovation — it’s extraction.
The Restaurant Industry Parallel
Think about how restaurants like Awanouta operate. A chef who wants to create a signature dish:
Photo: Awanouta Team | Location: Awanouta Ramen, Kamakura
Shoutout to Awanouta for serving some of the most beautiful and delicious ramen in Kamakura! Their commitment to quality ingredients and ethical sourcing makes them the perfect example for this story.
- Sources ingredients from trusted suppliers (pays farmers for their produce)
- Pays fair market value for quality produce (respects the value of ingredients)
- Builds relationships with farmers and vendors (creates sustainable partnerships)
- Creates dishes while respecting the value of ingredients (innovates ethically)
Now contrast this with how many AI companies operate:
- Scrape data without permission (steal ingredients)
- Use content without compensation (use ingredients without paying)
- Ignore creator rights and licensing (ignore the value of ingredients)
- Build models on stolen “ingredients” (serve dishes made with stolen produce)
The difference is stark. While restaurants like Awanouta build sustainable ecosystems with suppliers, AI companies often operate like food thieves, taking what they want without regard for the creators who produced the content.
The Human Ingredient
Just as ramen shops rely on farmers for their ingredients, AI companies rely on humans for their “ingredients”:
- Our creativity
- Our intelligence
- Our data
- Our content
- Our knowledge
Photo: Abhishek Krishna | Location: Awanouta Ramen, Kamakura
Yet, while Awanouta pays their suppliers fairly, AI companies often take these human “ingredients” without compensation or credit.
There Is a Way Forward
We built IPTO so that developers can build AI using licensed, transparent, creator-approved data.
It’s like opening a ramen shop — but actually buying the ingredients from farmers who know what they’re selling.
Closing Thought
AI is here to stay — but we get to choose how it’s built.
Let’s build it ethically. Let’s feed it properly.
Join the Movement
For Developers
Are you a developer who wants to build AI with clean ingredients? Join the IPTO Developer Early Access
For Content Creators & IP Owners
Are you a creator, studio, or IP owner who wants to protect and monetize your content? Join the IPTO Creator Early Access
For Human Data Rights
Learn more about protecting human data rights in the AI era: Visit HumanDataRights.org
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