How Alias cracked fair compensation for artists by merging creativity with AI
Founded in 2022 by a visionary quartet—Alexandre Cadain, Primavera de Filippi, Léo Blondel, and Charlotte Heylliard— Alien, the force behind Alias, champions the "trust-by-design" approach, pioneering the integration of advanced technologies with a strong commitment to ethical principles.
Alias.studio, their inaugural venture, represents a significant leap forward, offering artist-certified generative AI models that incorporate IP rights and royalty management, setting a new standard for trust and fairness in digital art.
In 2023, Alias faced a groundbreaking challenge: they recognized the transformative potential of generative AI for artists but grappled with the 'how', 'who', and 'why' of their vision.
With an innovative concept but without a defined business model or clear path forward, Alias turned to Mozza. Together, they embarked on a mission to create the first generative AI platform designed for fair artist compensation.
The aim was to develop a user-friendly platform where remuneration is directly linked to artists' contributions, ensuring that their creative work is properly respected and rewarded in today's fast-moving digital landscape.
Mozza's team tapped into their expertise in art and Web3 to embark on a journey that started with in-depth user research. This initial phase aimed to fully grasp what artists and their communities expect from a platform powered by generative AI, setting the stage for the project's direction.
The collaboration included:
User Research
We carried out exploratory interviews to understand the specific needs and aspirations of users (artists, content creators, ad agencies…) when it comes to generative AI, copyright and protecting rights. These conversations revealed their vision of the future of art, their concerns and also their expectations.
Product Strategy
We helped the Alias team to choose a clear positioning and build a product strategy through several exercises including brainstorming sessions with the team.
The challenge was to determine the path to take in adopting GenAI and blockchain in the case of Alias. Mozza carried out a major clarifying operation:
- Segmentation of customer targets (to put it simply, small/medium/large artists and small/medium/large businesses)
- Present concrete examples of what Alias could offer their customers thanks to GenAI.
From a macro perspective, this work helped to narrow down the possibilities and align the team on a common project.
This stage enabled us to set a framework for the rest of the project: the aim was not to deliver a precise tool, but rather a global framework that would bring together artist and brand, while generating new artworks designed in the artist's colours.
The chosen direction was also to focus on coaching the artist to train the models to capture 'the essence of their style'. The decision was taken to work on a process of onboarding and guided uploading of the artworks so that they offered the most effective way of training the model.
UX & UI Design
With a goal to design a platform both comprehensive and easy to navigate, regardless of the device, we created and tested a design engaging for users across desktop and mobile platforms. Feedbacks from user tests were crucial, enabling us to improve the user experience and simplify the creative process.
Brand Design
In order to reflect this positioning, we developed a brand book, aligning with its market positioning. This new brand identity reflects Alias's innovative vision and mission.
The partnership led to the creation of Alias's MVP, a generative AI platform that prioritizes fair compensation for artists. This platform enables artists to offer their artwork for new creations by their community, tackling the challenge of unpaid use of artists' work in AI models.
Alias has positioned itself as a pioneer in offering Aliases - model trained and approved by the artist - powered by generative AI.
The collaboration between Alias and Mozza has set the stage for Alias to redefine the relationship between artists, their art, and the audience in the age of generative AI. This initiative is a step towards ensuring artists have control over their art, while also engaging and expanding their communities in creative processes.
Alias has emerged as a leader in advocating for artists' rights, with the platform receiving positive acclaim for its innovative approach to merging art with technology.
Meet the team
Cofounder of Cousto, ex COO of Ferpection
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ex Head of Product at SeLoger
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ex Product Designer at Pinterest
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