In the AI era, Story's programmable IP network brings artists, developers, and AI into collaborative ...

Story wants to change that. Not by issuing takedown notices or clamping down on remix culture—but by reprogramming IP itself.

In the unfolding era of AI, Story's programmable IP network is bringing artists, developers, and cutting-edge technology into an unprecedented realm of collaborative authorship. This fusion gives rise to a remarkable tapestry of creativity, where ideas can be seamlessly composed, rights are inherently embedded, and remixing becomes the very fabric of technological infrastructure.

At the heart of Story's vision lies a bold thesis: to transform intellectual property (IP) into a blockchain-native asset class, programmable, enforcable, and built for the massive scale demanded by the AI age. This endeavor is forging a new standard for registering, licensing, and monetizing creative works, brand assets, and AI-generated data sets—ranging from anime characters and music tracks to iconic brand assets, blog posts, and advanced training data sets.

At its core, Story's technology transforms IP into a graph-based asset class. Works are elegantly represented as IP Assets—NFTs augmented with the capabilities of smart contracts—that directly integrate licensing terms, attribution data, and flexible payment logic. These assets seamlessly plug into foundational infrastructure designed to coordinate and enforce creative rights across multiple legal jurisdictions.

A mechanism called the Proof-of-Creativity Protocol meticulously tracks the origin and evolution of each asset, forming a durable and meaningful lineage graph. This is further layered with the Programmable IP License (PIL)—a hybrid on-chain/off-chain framework that links smart contract terms, such as royalties, usage permissions, and geographic restrictions, to real-world legal enforceability.

Each IP Asset functions like a programmable Lego brick. As Jason Zhao, Story's co-founder and former DeepMind product lead, explains, "You can remix it, but the rules and revenue splits are embedded from the start."

To power this, Story uses Token-Bound Accounts (via ERC-6551) to transform static NFTs into programmable IP entities. Each registered asset is issued a unique on-chain account—which the team calls an "IP Account"—that seamlessly integrates with modules for licensing, royalties, and tokenization.

Zhao describes it as an elegantly simple yet powerful system that they aimed to deploy across major blockchain ecosystems. "From Ethereum to Solana to SUI," he adds, "we wanted a system that made creativity programmable across chains."

"Blockchains create unstoppable digital markets," Zhao continues. "But we needed a use case broader than currency. We saw an emerging problem with IP. Now, with AI, it's a massive one."

That seamless remixability isn't limited to humans. "From the solo artist to the AI agent—everyone is now a creator," the team proclaims in its mainnet launch video.

At the outset, Story is a new blockchain built with the Cosmos SDK and CometBFT consensus engine. It also supports the Ethereum Virtual Machine, allowing developers to deploy Solidity contracts alongside more advanced IP-specific modules.

This vertical specialization allows Story to do what general-purpose chains often can't: manage complex creative relationships at scale. The IP Core traverses asset graphs, automating rules and royalty flows. The Offchain Sync Core ensures compatibility with real-world documents, signatures, and legal identities. The Cross-Chain Core connects Story's assets with other chains like Ethereum and Solana.

Zhao calls it "a brand new substrate for a new type of internet"—an infrastructure layer for ideas, not just tokens.

The AI Core, a fourth module, is currently in development. It will trace the provenance of machine-generated content and data sets, enabling models to license, credit, and compensate their training inputs. If an artist opts in to allow their work to be used in AI training, those permissions and royalties can be set from the start.

In Story's model, ownership becomes visible—not just as metadata, but as the very fabric of the technological infrastructure.

The most ambitious component may be the Programmable IP License, which bridges legal language and on-chain logic. It turns permissions, attribution, and royalty structures into enforcable smart contracts, while remaining compliant with frameworks like the Berne Convention.

Here's what that looks like in practice: A creator uploads work to the IP Portal, configures licensing terms, and registers the asset on-chain. Another user downloads the content, remixes it, and pays to license their derivative. The original creator receives revenue automatically. The lineage, rights, and terms carry forward—all in a few clicks.

"It can happen through the Portal, an API, or directly through smart contracts," the team explains. "The rules—and the revenue—are automated."

"Intellectual property has long been seen as something complicated—something only lawyers and big corporations deal with," Zhao said. "People assume it's inaccessible, that licensing is a bureaucratic nightmare, or that it's impossible to protect and monetize IP in the age of AI. That's a problem."

"Story flips this narrative. What was once reserved for the elite is now democratized."

The rallying cry