London-based artificial intelligence start-up, Human Native AI, is set to secure close to £3m in funding from investors this week, according to sources familiar with the matter. The investment round will be led by LocalGlobe and Mercuri, early backers of successful foreign exchange app TransferWise.
The new funding will be used to support the company’s growth and expand its workforce and marketing capabilities. Human Native AI was founded in April by James Smith and Jack Galilee, and has already attracted clients such as Mumsnet and Reach, the publisher of The Daily Mirror.
The company operates a marketplace that allows rights-holders to make their licensed data available for AI developers to use for model training. This platform gives data-owners more control over who can use their data and for what purposes.
The launch of Human Native AI comes at a time when the use of content by AI companies for model training has sparked controversy. With the rapid advancement of generative AI, there is a growing need to develop a more efficient and fair system for acquiring high-quality data.
In response to this challenge, Human Native AI aims to streamline the process of licensing negotiations and provide fair compensation to rights-holders. “High-quality data is fundamental to progress in AI, so we need to make it easier for AI developers to fairly and responsibly acquire it,” said co-founder James Smith.
The funding round, which is expected to be publicly announced on Tuesday, has received praise from investors. “Companies building AI products need access to high-quality data for model training,” said Ziv Reichert, a partner at LocalGlobe. “Individual case-by-case licensing agreements are not practical, and the scraping and subsequent cleaning of data is not sustainable. Human Native AI’s marketplace provides a rich data environment for AI developers while protecting intellectual property rights, and ensuring fair competition and participation in the AI industry.”
This latest investment is a testament to the potential of Human Native AI’s marketplace to revolutionize the way AI companies acquire and use data. With the support of LocalGlobe and Mercuri, the company is well-positioned to continue its growth and make a significant impact in the AI industry.
