TOKYO - SoftBank Corp. said Wednesday it will begin operating a new information platform that receives article data from news outlets and publishers and processes it into data for use in generative artificial intelligence.
The Japanese company designed the platform, called GaranAI, to allow news content to be used for AI development while protecting intellectual property rights. The move comes amid growing concerns over copyright infringement and the spread of misinformation.
Content creators, including the Mainichi Newspapers Co., Sankei Shimbun Co., Kyodo News and some local newspaper companies, will provide their content to GaranAI and receive compensation.
SoftBank converts the content into a format that makes it hard to restore to its original form and then further processes it into data that AI can easily use before selling it to AI developers, aiming to help improve the accuracy of responses to users' inquiries.
SoftBank released a pilot version of the platform Wednesday and started accepting applications from AI developers. The operator plans to improve the platform over the next six months before launching the final version in or after January next year.
The company also aims to expand the platform to accept copyrighted content from a wide range of sectors, including online media and museums, with the goal of making it an essential information platform for generative AI development and improvement.
