AI Registries to Protect Athlete Likenesses and Digital IP

It is not disputed that AI is rapidly reshaping the entertainment and sports industries, with top athletes now becoming huge contributors to the ‘AI economy’. It appears though that such contributions are inconsistently compensated, if they are compensated at all. Therefore, some will make the case that a standardized system is required to provide fair compensation,  

From Callondor Group, a first dedicated registry for sports intellectual property in the AI era has been developed, which provides a platform designed to give athletes and sports organizations the tools to manage, protect and profit from their digital identities — which appear to be increasingly absorbed into AI systems without compensation or consent.

Looking at the IP of sporting superstars like Lionel Messi or LeBron James, for example, their movements, voice and biometric data may be provided into AI models with zero transparency and no standardized royalty system. Therefore, we may be moving to an era in which athletes are no longer just players or performers — they are the training data for the next generation of digital entertainment.

Taking a deeper look, this IP registry allows athletes to license their digital identities and collect royalties when AI systems draw on their likeness or performance data. For clubs and content studios, it may also provide a route to commercialize video libraries as training material for AI developers, while remaining compliant with the European Union’s AI Act.

It is likely that the biggest commercial market for such a registry is likely the European football market, given the global audiences commanded by the top five leagues, and the regulatory tailwinds created by the EU AI Act providing conditions that favour its compliant approach. 

Previously, sports IP licensing in the AI era may have been viewed as an asset with huge underlying value, but with no standardized infrastructure to unlock it; so it will be interesting to how this may shift with such dedicated registries wherein athletes, clubs and organizations can manage, protect and profit from their digital identities and intellectual property.