Rapper and entrepreneur Tip “T.I.” Harris has invested in Pocstock, a Black-owned content and data licensing company working to give creators greater control over how their work is used as artificial intelligence reshapes the digital economy.
The investment will support Pocstock’s efforts to expand culturally representative content and datasets for brands, technology companies, and AI developers while emphasizing creator consent, ownership, and compensation. The investment terms were not disclosed.
Founded by CEO Steve Jones, the Newark, New Jersey, company licenses images, videos, and data representing diverse communities. According to the company, its approach is designed to address representation gaps while ensuring creators have a stake in the growing market for content used in AI development.
“Our goal is to help build a more responsible and representative data layer for AI while bringing creator communities along as the technology evolves,” Jones said in a statement.
Jones said Pocstock wants people of color to participate in the emerging economy as “producers, owners and economic contributors — not simply consumers.”
Harris’ investment comes as the rapid expansion of generative AI has intensified debates over intellectual property, consent, and compensation for creators whose work may be used to train AI models.
For Harris, the investment extends his broader focus on entrepreneurship and ownership beyond the entertainment industry.
“Authenticity cannot be faked, and our stories cannot be told properly without us in the driver’s seat,” Harris said. “Pocstock is capturing the positive aspects of our culture.”
The partnership also highlights a larger economic question around AI development: whether the communities whose creative work and cultural influence contribute to emerging technologies will share in the wealth those technologies generate.
Pocstock said it wants to help address that divide by creating opportunities for creators to license their work while maintaining greater control over its use. The company also plans to help younger creators develop skills, protect their intellectual property, and generate economic value from their content.
As companies continue investing heavily in AI, Pocstock is positioning creator ownership and culturally representative data as part of the infrastructure powering the technology’s next phase.
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