Chris Dixon Says Blockchain Could Help Pay Creators for AI Data Use

a16z Frontier founding partner Chris Dixon says blockchain protocols could help creators verify ownership of online data and trace its use by AI systems, opening a path to automatic compensation for content used in AI development. Dixon described the early web as an exchange: independent creators, bloggers, news organizations and volunteer communities supplied high-quality material, while platforms distributed it, helped build its audience and offered ways to earn revenue. He said that arrangement weakened as platforms gained network effects and tightened their algorithms, leaving creators to pay for visibility. Generative AI adds pressure to that relationship, Dixon said.