The connecting thread
Arttribute.
Build the tools. Keep people in the picture.
Arttribute began with a question about creative work: how could artists retain a meaningful say in how their work enters generative AI? Following that question led me into attribution, provenance, and the wider issue of agency.
Follow a question far enough
The early work focused on attribution and permission in generative art. ESTDEV’s account of my time in Estonia captures that starting point: a young company exploring a fairer, more transparent relationship between artists and AI systems. I registered Arttribute in Estonia in 2024, alongside my work in educational technology.
As the projects developed, the concern widened. Keeping control over a creative contribution is related to keeping control over sensitive data, understanding a tool before relying on it, and being able to examine what happened inside a workflow. Those connections gradually shaped the company’s present focus.
Several projects, a shared direction
Arttribute now connects Agent Commons, CommonLab, ProvenanceKit, and Common Arcade. They approach different problems: infrastructure, learning, creation history, and play. Together, they give me ways to test a broad idea through concrete software and real encounters with people.
The ambition is useful technology that expands what people can do while preserving their ability to decide. That takes patient work: building, teaching, researching, and revisiting assumptions when something meets the world. Nairobi is home, and the conversations and collaborations around the work reach much further.
Some doors into the project, its origins, and the people around it.