Fanbase and pocstock Strike Landmark Deal to Pay Creators for Training AI Models

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Published by Gugulethu Nxumalo at November 26, 2025

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Users of Fanbase can now get paid for content used in AI training, thanks to a groundbreaking partnership with pocstock.

Under the agreement, all content, such as videos and photos, can be used to train AI models. What makes this partnership especially notable is that creators will receive direct financial compensation — not only for engagement or subscriptions, but for helping power the next generation of AI through the pocstock integration. This aligns seamlessly with Fanbase’s core mission of enabling users to monetize their content on their own terms.

Isaac Hayes III, the founder of Fanbase, said he is “excited about this partnership because this is exactly what Fanbase stands for. We value the cultural and creative contributions that our users make every day … this collaboration with pocstock allows us to honor that value by making sure users are compensated for the content that helps build the future of AI and the entire social media ecosystem,” he added.

Steve Jones, founder and CEO of pockstock, shared his excitement about the partnership, saying, “This partnership is about opening the door for creators to the rapidly growing world of AI. AI is changing how our ideas are made and shared, and we want to make sure our community has a real place in the AI economy. Not just as consumers, but as producers. We’re excited to join forces with Fanbase and give more creators access. pocstock is also a play in the stock media industry, focusing on providing stock photos of people of color and other unrepresented groups in media.”

Why this partnership matters

Studies have shown, time and again, that AI systems may have racial bias. This, to many, is no surprise as AI models are trained on large data sets created by developers. Those datasets often fail to reflect diverse faces, voices, or cultural expressions; as such, they contain biases and prejudices.

When data is limited, AI models will contain and produce those blind spots. This then leads to misidentification in facial recognition tools, skews search results, and leads to inaccurate content moderation. However, partnerships like this give creators of color a direct role in shaping the datasets that will determine how AI models of the near future will behave.

Growth and Funding

Fanbase has continued to scale quickly over the past year. As of last December, the platform had grown to 1.4 million users. This is a 35% jump from 2023. pocstock, too, has been expanding its footprint. The company marked its fifth anniversary in November 2024 and unveiled a new, state-of-the-art space in Newark to support its next stage of growth.

Both companies have been raising capital while increasing their visibility. Fanbase reported in a December update that it had already secured $4 million and was on track to reach $17 million to support its broader scaling plans. pocstock, on the other hand, launched a crowdfunding campaign about six months ago to advance its mission of improving inclusion in stock imagery, marketing, advertising, and AI.

With its crowdfunding round closing on Nov. 30, the startup has raised more than $242,000 from over 160 investors on WeFunder. CEO Steve Jones said the company is now taking private placements to raise an additional $5 million, with the round expected to close in the first quarter of 2026.

To date, pocstock has brought in $1.6 million in seed funding, including $500,000 from venture capital. The company is also part of Audible’s Business Attraction Program and celebrated the opening of its Newark headquarters just over a year ago.