Will an AI Company Ask for Exclusive Rights to Your Data? What to Say
AITrainingDataBroker.com
Will an AI company
ask for exclusive
rights to your data?
What exclusive means, what it costs you, and what to ask for
Jimmy Lin
Will an AI company ask for exclusive rights to your data?
Sooner or later, an AI company may send you a contract that asks for exclusive rights to your data.
Many owners hear that and think it means giving the data away, but it does not.
It is not a sale, and it is not forever, it is a promise about who else can use your data for a set time.
So what does that really mean, and what should you say?
Let us start with the word itself.
The video
Full script
Sooner or later, an AI company may send you a contract that asks for exclusive rights to your data.
Many owners hear that and think it means giving the data away, but it does not.
It is not a sale, and it is not forever, it is a promise about who else can use your data for a set time.
So what does that really mean, and what should you say?
Let us start with the word itself.
In plain words, exclusive means one AI company is the only one allowed to license your data for a set time, and every other AI company has to wait.
Most owners think a bigger promise always brings a bigger check, but that is only half true, because it depends on what you give up in return.
Before we count that, let me tell you who I am.
I'm Jimmy. I have worked in data at Fortune 500 companies, as a data analyst, a data engineer and a software engineer, and I am trained in data science. I am also a Canadian military veteran, where I specialized in data analysis and reporting.
Are you selling your data? We are your broker and technical advisor. We get you the best price, and we guide your team through the technical side, so your data stays private.
Are you buying data for an AI lab? We find the right data for you and see it through to delivery, so you can focus on advancing AI research.
Now, back to the contract, where you will see one of 2 words.
Exclusive means one AI company gets your data, and for a set time you agree not to license it to anyone else.
Non-exclusive means you can license the same data to several AI companies, and each one pays you.
Either way, it is a license and not a sale, so you keep your data and keep using it in your own business.
Which one is more common?
Public AI deals give us a clue.
To see what is common, look at public AI deals in news and online content.
According to Media and the Machine, a newsletter that tracks these deals, most of them are non-exclusive, and Reddit and the Associated Press are on its list.
The AI newsletter The Batch, from DeepLearning.AI, says the same about the Financial Times.
And when a deal was exclusive, it came with limits, because The Batch reports that Le Monde became OpenAI's exclusive provider of French-language news, and Prisa Media its exclusive provider of Spanish-language news.
So exclusive usually comes with limits, such as one language.
Your data is not news, but the same idea applies.
Those are big names, and big names can often keep their rights open.
A typical company is different, because the AI company usually asks for exclusive, often for about 2 years, and with one contract there is not much room to say no.
That changes when more than one AI company is looking at your data, because they have to compete for it.
When I represent your data as your broker, I bring it to several AI companies, and I can ask for more if one of them wants exclusive rights.
You still make the final call, but you make it with offers to compare.
So what does exclusive cost you?
For the whole term, no other AI company can license that data from you, so a better offer next month has to wait, and if this AI company is slow, so is your income from that data.
That is why exclusive should pay more, and why it must end, usually after about 2 years.
But there is a safer way to say yes, and here is what I would ask for.
If the answer is yes, here are 6 things I would ask for.
First, a clear end date, because exclusivity should always end, and second, a higher price, because you are giving up other offers.
Third, clear limits on what it covers, so exclusive applies only to the data you hand over, and anything you create later stays yours to license.
Fourth, keep your own use, so you can still run your business with your data, and fifth, get a way out early, for example if the AI company stops paying.
And sixth, get everything in writing: who is held back, from what, and for how long.
There is one more thing to know before you decide.
AI companies often ask you to confirm that your data was never licensed for AI training before, and that you did not create or change it with AI for this sale.
Let me make this real.
Picture a landscaping company with 90 people and 10 years of job notes, crew schedules, quotes and photos, and an AI company that wants all of it exclusive for 2 years.
The owner can say yes, as long as the price is higher than a non-exclusive deal, the 2 years end on a set date, and the exclusivity covers only the 10 years handed over, so the owner's own use and any new data created later stay free.
That is a yes with limits, and it protects the business.
This is where a broker and technical advisor helps.
As your broker, I bring you offers from AI companies and work through the exclusive and non-exclusive terms with you, so you can compare them side by side, and you make the final call.
As your technical advisor, I guide your team through the technical side, which means what to export, in what format, and how your data is de-identified so it stays private.
Nothing moves until your team signs off, and the terms are agreed case by case.
And you do not pay anything: AI companies pay my fee.
So, an exclusive request is not a trap, and it is not a gift, it is a trade.
Say yes only with an end date, clear limits and a higher price.
If you run a company with 30 or more people, the data you already have could become a new revenue stream.
Want to find out?
You can check if yours qualifies, for free, at AITrainingDataBroker.com.
If you have further questions, leave them in the comments, and I will answer them in the next video.
Thank you for watching.
I will see you next time.
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