Licensing Data
Every few months, I see a headline that one of the foundation model labs is negotiating a multimillion-dollar contract to license data.
This usually sparks a second-order debate: how much should the actual creators of that content be paid for their work?
If Google is training Gemini on YouTube videos, should YouTube creators get a cut? If OpenAI licenses Reddit, should Reddit posters be compensated for their comments?
Tips in LLMs.txt & Robots.txt
The lines blur when you’re dealing with third-party platforms, but things get much simpler if you host your own content on your own domain. Standards are already emerging:
- llms.txt for inference rules
- robots.txt for crawling and training
We could extend these with a small standardized section for tips, using digital-native payments (crypto):
## Leave a Tip
- Bitcoin Address: ...
- Ethereum Address: ...
- Litecoin Address: ...
- Dogecoin Address: ...
This isn’t much different from leaving a tip via BuyMeACoffee or Ko-fi. The difference is it’s built into the open web.
There’s a common phrase in crypto: every idea has already been discussed somewhere in the original Bitcoin forums. Micropayments for user-generated content are not new—but now they’re colliding with the AI era in a fresh way.
AEO, SEO & Your Domain
As AI Engine Optimization (AEO) begins to overtake traditional Search Engine Optimization (SEO), there has never been a better time to own your content outright.
Platforms like Medium, Substack, and others will each impose their own terms of service on how foundation models can use your content. But if you run your own domain, you set the rules.
Even more importantly, you can build “domain trust” with LLMs. If an AI finds your content useful, it could acknowledge that directly—potentially even with a tip.
Concluding Thoughts
It’s a simple idea, but a powerful one:
- Launch your own website
- Own and manage your content
- Add a crypto wallet to your llms.txt and robots.txt
- Build trust and brand equity with LLMs
- Capture the upside