CPRS™ White Paper · Infographic
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CPRS™ White Paper Series · The AI Vertical

$CULTUREThe unpaid AI invoice.

AI runs on culture. The industry pays for chips, cloud and models, and now for content that carries a registered title. Culture with no title earns $0. At the rate the market already pays per work, that unpaid invoice costs Culture Makers and their communities an estimated $5.01B. Here is where the value goes, and how CPRS™ changes the math.

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The AI value stack drawn as vertical blinds: compute, models, applications and distribution capture value while culture and data, where value is created, captures close to none. Reported AI licensing and settlement payments go to parties with registered title; culture without title receives $0, an estimated $5.01B in Lost Commercial Value to Culture Makers and community. MADECXCPRS™ White Paper Series · Infographic · Oct 2026 $CULTURE The Unpaid AI Invoice. Culture goes in. Capability comes out. Every layer of the AI vertical gets paid except the one that supplies it. Title is the price of admission. Largest AI settlement $1.5B ~500K works · ~$3K each Tech / AI Data multiplier 4.5× Highest sector in CPRS™ AI training extension 2–5× Applied to modeled band Lost Commercial Value $5.01B Culture Makers + community · $0 paid Fig. 1 · Where AI value is captured Fig. 2 · Paid vs. lost · $M The AI vertical Who gets paid Culture & Data · value created here Culture Compute Compute Models Models Applications Applications Distribution Distribution $1.5B Authors v. Anthropic $250M News Corp × OpenAI $203M Reddit AI deals $104M Shutterstock AI rev. ’23 $42.5M Perplexity Pub. pool Lost Commercial Value · $0 paid $5.01B $4.78B Makers $239M community Untitled culture Slat length = share of AI value captured (MADE CX assessment). Hatched = where value is created. To scale. Black = paid to titled holders. Red = lost to untitled culture (MADE CX model). Fig. 3 · Who captures · what reaches the originator Structural position, not motive · MADE CX assessment Compute & cloud Nothing Model developers Titled holders, settlements Platforms Nothing, under typical ToS Generative apps Major labels, after suits Legacy rights holders Depends on old contract Dataset brokers Nothing The fix · CPRS™ rates culture for capital Five weighted dimensions → composite → modeled band CIS Cultural Influence ×0.30 CCI Consumer Conversion ×0.25 LIP Likeness & Identity ×0.20 CUV Commercial Usage ×0.15 HLM Heritage & Lineage ×0.10 Every licensed dollar · 80 / 16 / 4 80% Culture Makers16% Culture Makers · MADE CX platform · CX Foundation (4%) reinvests Register → Rate → License → Return Sources: JD Supra (Bartz v. Anthropic), LLM Pulse deals map (reported, unconfirmed values), AI Business. Fig. 1 and Fig. 3 are MADE CX assessments. Lost Commercial Value = BLK:INV ~1.99M records × $3,000 per work × 84%, a MADE CX model. CPRS™ figures are modeled bands, not appraisals, prices or investment advice. Independent analysis, not affiliated with any company named. Read the white paper madecx.info

Fig. 1 draws the AI value stack as vertical blinds: slat length is the share of value each layer captures. Fig. 2 draws reported payments to scale against the Lost Commercial Value to Culture Makers and community, in red. Hover or tap any slat for detail. Download as a 3200 × 4400 PNG.

Why verticals
A living room with floor-length vertical blinds, a white lounge chair and a cream cabinet

A vertical is a category the supply chain can't run without. For AI, that's $CULTURE. The market still prices it at $0.

Every AI product runs on cultural supply: language, music, images, style. Chips, cloud and models are invoiced. Culture is not. Outside the rights window, the work that makes AI sound human is unpaid labor.

In a lot of Black homes, verticals are also what hang in the front window. Same word, same window. Each slat in Fig. 1 is a layer of the AI economy. Four get paid. The fifth, culture, hangs full length and unpaid.

Model it

Compare a CPRS™ record in its own sector and in the AI vertical.

Pick a published record. See how the Tech / AI Data multiplier changes its index, and how the AI training extension scales its modeled band. These are modeled figures from published briefs, never prices.

Compare against
3.0× modeled band

Formula: Index = BCPV × CDC, where CDC = 0.75 × 0.40 × sector multiplier. AI extension = TCPMV × 2.0–5.0 (CPRS™ §III).

$GRANDNATIONAL
Own sector
AI Data
BCPV · Tier
Modeled band
AI extension
Read the full brief →

Soft and Day-0 CPRS™ valuations. Not an appraisal, a price or investment advice. Ask the CPRS Engine how any rating is set.

Go deeper

Learn the standard. Read the paper.

Ask the engine, learn the five dimensions, then read the full argument behind this infographic.

A black leopard watching from tall grassAsk the standardCPRS EngineAsk how a rating is set, what moves it, and which tier a figure falls in.Open → Two artists in orange and blue standing at a studio microphoneThe standardCPRS™ ExplainedFive dimensions, the formula, the tier ladder and the rules behind every rating.Open → Floor-length vertical blindsWhite paperWhere $CULTURE Fits in the AI VerticalThe full argument behind this infographic, sourced and footnoted.Open →
Culture, priced like capital

Where culture gets covered like capital.

MADECX.info is the research desk of MADE CX, the Cultural Exchange that turns cultural IP into market liquidity. It publishes valuations, ownership research and reporting on $CULTURE as an asset class, priced with the Cultural Property Rights Standard. Culture Makers are the most under-banked population in the American economy. This is where that record gets written.

Visit the Research Desk →
  • Culture Market DataCPRS™ valuations of the deals, tours and drops moving culture
  • Founder's NotesPositions on ownership, AI and the culture economy
  • White PapersThe long-form case for $CULTURE as an asset class
  • HeritagePatents, archives and the lineage behind the record

Bring the $CULTURE briefing to your stage.

Tommy Johnson, Founder & CEO of MADE CX, delivers this research as a keynote, a classroom lecture or a working session for boards, universities, conferences and creative communities.

  • Where culture sits in the AI value stack, and who captures it
  • How CPRS™ rates cultural property for capital
  • What Culture Makers can register before the next training cycle
KeynotesGuest lecturesPanelsExecutive briefings
Booking inquiries
tommy@made.cx

Subject line: “Speaking — $CULTURE AI Vertical”

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Method & sources

Reported payments: Bartz v. Anthropic settlement of at least $1.5B covering ~500,000 works (JD Supra); News Corp–OpenAI ($250M over five years), Reddit's AI agreements ($203M total contract value), Shutterstock AI licensing revenue in 2023 ($104M) and the Perplexity publisher pool ($42.5M) are press-reported and unconfirmed by the parties (LLM Pulse; AI Business). Values differ in period and type, so Fig. 2 compares scale, not like-for-like terms.

Lost Commercial Value is a MADE CX model: ~1,990,000 BLK:INV Terminal records × $3,000 per work (the per-work rate in the authors' settlement) = $5.97B. The Culture Maker share (80%) and community share (4%) under the 80/16/4 split come to 84%: $4.78B to Culture Makers and $239M to community, $5.01B combined. It applies the market's own rate to an untitled archive. It is not a claim against any party.

Fig. 1 capture ratings and Fig. 3 positions are MADE CX qualitative assessments from the white paper Where $CULTURE Fits in the AI Vertical. CPRS™ weights, sector multipliers and the AI extension factor are from the Cultural Property Rights Standard. Model records are published soft-pass and Day-0 briefs; figures are modeled bands, not appraisals, prices or investment advice. “Nothing” in Fig. 3 describes value flowing without CPRS™ attribution, not a finding that any party underpaid. Independent analysis, not affiliated with or endorsed by any company named.