If you’re someone, most likely rightfully, worried about films or videos that you upload online to different platforms being sold and used to train AI models that you haven’t given permission to (or received financial compensation for), then this new creative ownership platform might be something worth checking out.
Just launched after a beta run, Sinima aims to be a new space for filmmakers and creators to host, protect, monitor, and earn on their films and videos.
The platform looks to operate as a new-fangled version of what we’ve seen in the past from other hosting platforms, but with some of the key differences being this focus on what it calls “creative ownership” as a way to hedge against (yet in a way embrace) this new age of AI.
If you’re interested, or at least intrigued, here’s what we know so far.
A New Creative Ownership Platform
Credit: Sinima
Launched by founders that include a former VP at Vimeo, Sinima is an interesting play, aiming to solve problems facing the video platform industry in what looks like two directions at once.
For filmmakers and creators, even with promises from big platforms like Vimeo, YouTube, and others, it’s hard to fully trust or understand how your uploaded films and videos are protected, or whether they’re being used internally or externally to train AI models.
The other problem facing the industry is on the AI side: big companies clearly want to train their models on real films, videos, and footage, yet the avenues to do so legally (and ethically—if you agree that is possible) are limited.
Sinima aims to sit underneath the creative economy and make rights as easy to establish as content is to create these days.
What Sinima Offers
Credit: Sinima
On the surface, Sinima looks like another video hosting platform that offers a solid range of expected features, including hosting, private client review, ownership and provenance records, monitoring for potential matches, and creator-controlled AI permissions.
When users upload footage to the platform, the company says each upload gets a unique digital fingerprint, and each file gets an ownership certificate with a public verification link that anyone can confirm without an account. These ownership details, consent,, and source information are also recorded in C2PA-format manifests,, which will better allow creators to protect their videos and earn from them.
The company currently offers a model in which, when a title is licensed for AI training, creators keep 85% of what the buyer pays. The company’s current rate card values eligible, rights-cleared footage at $4,000 to $7,500 per hour, which means $3,400 to $6,375 per cleared hour would go to the creator in these scenarios.
Price and Availability
Credit: Sinima
All said, it’s an interesting play that puts a lot of faith in filmmakers and creators worried about AI being trained on their videos and footage without their consent to make the jump to being alright with it with their consent, rather than just not at all.
But if you’re interested in exploring what this possible new future could offer, Sinima is a new platform that seems to fill a void and could be a solution moving forward.
Sinima is free to get started and, as the company claims, free to use forever. However, the more robust features and earning options are available with monthly or annual subscription plans starting at $15 a month. You can find more info on the company’s website.
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