Partnering with ProRata to explore a fair model for AI content use

At Raptive, AI advocacy takes many forms. Sometimes it’s designed to attract immediate attention, like our viral Keep it real campaign. 

Sometimes, it’s making sure your voices are heard, like in our open letter or Independents’ Day event in Washington, DC. 

But sometimes advocacy is the steady, behind-the-scenes work that quietly adds up to create the future we want to see: one where AI systems credit and compensate you for the use of your work. 

That’s where our partnership with ProRata comes in—it’s a strategic step towards shaping how independent creators and publishers can benefit from the growing AI ecosystem. 

Who is ProRata? 

ProRata is a company building attribution and monetization infrastructure for generative AI. 

“Our mission is to make AI work for all creators and publishers by delivering fair monetization solutions across the industry,” said Annelies Jansen, Chief Business Officer at ProRata. 

“When someone creates valuable work, they deserve credit and compensation when it’s used and monetized. It’s that simple.”

Their flagship product is Gist, a search-based answer engine powered by generative AI. It attributes its outputs to source content and has an integrated ad unit, enabling proportional revenue sharing with content owners, based on their contribution to the answer.

What makes ProRata’s Gist different?

Unlike other LLM-based search experiences, Gist delivers AI-generated answers with citations that show exactly where the content comes from, as well as the proportion of your content used in an answer. 

“Attribution is not a feature, it’s the foundation of Gist,” said Jansen. “By tracking which sources contribute to an answer, we can fairly compensate creators for the value their content generates, just like Spotify pays artists for each stream or YouTube shares ad revenue with creators.”

Gist uses contextual advertising, splitting ad revenue between creators and publishers based on their content’s contribution to the answer. 

What is the pilot program? 

We’re partnering with ProRata to pioneer a model where creators are recognized and compensated by AI systems. While the revenue is not expected to be significant at this stage, the goal is to build a case for broader change and eventually expand the program. 

“We’re excited to see how this business model helps maintain a diverse, healthy content ecosystem that supports independent creators through audience growth and new revenue streams based on the real value their content delivers,” said Jansen.

We’re intentionally keeping the pilot to a small group to refine the tech and infrastructure; we hope to roll it out more broadly over time. 

How does this work push the industry closer to a fair business model for AI content use? 

This business model proves that it’s not just possible but practical to fairly credit and compensate creators when their work is used by generative AI. It shows AI companies, publishers, creators, and policymakers that proportional attribution creates a sustainable path forward. 

“Readers deserve to see which sources influenced their answers, and to what degree,” said Jansen. “Without a clear ‘nutrition label’ for AI outputs, how can anyone know whether what they’re consuming is trustworthy or potentially inaccurate and harmful?”

Our intention is for this partnership to help set new and much-needed standards for the AI era. 

How does this initiative impact the Raptive community?

Our hope is that the work we’re doing today is laying the foundation for all Raptive creators and publishers to benefit in the near future.

“Together, we give Raptive’s expansive network of independent creators the tools to turn AI from a looming threat into an opportunity to grow their brands and unlock new revenue streams,” said Jansen. 

This is a first step, but a meaningful one. It moves us closer to our ultimate goal: a fair, transparent, and more sustainable future for creators.