In Russia
⚽️ Protecting athletes’ digital rights in the AI era
A revolution is brewing at the intersection of sports and technology: Callandor Group has unveiled what it calls the world’s first intellectual property registry for athletes in the age of AI.
The startup argues that today’s stars have become the “fuel” of the AI economy but still receive no compensation for it.
The movements, voices and biometric data of legends like Lionel Messi or LeBron James are being ingested at scale by AI models. Callandor offers a platform to manage and monetize this data, turning an athlete’s digital identity into a controlled, licensable asset.
CEO Michael Fisk maintains that athletes are no longer just players, but training data. Callandor is building the infrastructure to make the shift from traditional broadcast rights to “AI training rights” both legal and profitable.
Data protection is overseen by CTO An Vu, a former NASA engineer who has developed the “Event Horizon” API to monitor and control AI requests made to sports content.
The initial focus will be European football. The platform is designed to help clubs commercialize their video archives while staying compliant with strict rules such as the EU AI Act.
Callandor Group ultimately aims to become an “app store” for sports data, ensuring that stars own their digital future instead of training neural networks for free.
