Creators push back against AI with app that protects their work

When scriptwriter Ed Bennett-Coles read an article in 2008 announcing that artificial intelligence had successfully written its first screenplay, he described it as a “death moment” in his career — a chilling realization of what might be coming for creatives. 

Today, alongside his longtime friend and collaborator Jamie Hartman, Bennett-Coles has responded to that moment with action: the launch of ARK, a new blockchain-based app built to protect human creativity.

“AI is coming in, swooping in and taking so many people’s jobs,” Hartman said. The app’s purpose, he explained, is simple: “No... this is our work.” He added, “This is human, and we decide what it’s worth, because we own it.”

ARK is a digital tool that allows users to log their creative ideas — from rough drafts and song demos to completed work — using blockchain for timestamped, immutable proof of authorship. It includes features like NDAs, biometric security, and decentralized verification. The goal is to not only protect finished products, but to value the process itself. “ARK challenges the notion that the end product is the only thing worthy of value,” said Bennett-Coles.

The app is set to officially launch in summer 2025 and has already attracted investment from Claritas Capital, as well as a strategic partnership with BMI. Users will be able to subscribe on a tiered pricing model depending on their storage and verification needs. ARK is designed to be legally recognized as a blockchain-based "recording" or "smart contract" to stand up in court.

“In order to give the creator autonomy and sovereignty over their IP and control over their destiny, it has to be decentralized,” Bennett-Coles explained. Hartman added, “Copyright is a pretty good principle — as long as you can prove it, as long as you can stand behind it.”

Reflecting on the threat AI poses, Bennett-Coles said, “I saw a quote yesterday which really sums it up: it’s that growth for growth’s sake is the philosophy of the cancer cell. And that’s AI.” He stressed the importance of preserving the human experience behind creation — even the smallest parts of it. “The car trip that Jamie makes when he’s heading to the studio might be as important to writing that song as what happens in the studio itself.”

Their hope is that creators will have their own “death moments” — and then rise, empowered, with tools like ARK.