For the past few years, the AI conversation has largely focused on capability—what these systems can do, how fast they’re improving, and which companies are winning the race. But a new nonprofit called RSL Media is asking a different question: what about consent? Co-founded by Academy Award winner Cate Blanchett, RSL Media aims to create a machine-readable framework that allows people to determine whether their creative work, identity, voice, image, or likeness can be used by AI systems. In a world where AI models are trained on vast amounts of human-generated content, that seemingly simple idea could have enormous implications. Learn more about the initiative here: https://variety.com/2026/film/news/cate-blanchett-rsl-media-ai-usage-1236746845/
What makes RSL Media particularly interesting is that it isn’t positioning itself as anti-AI. Instead, it is advocating for a standard that gives individuals clear choices: allow AI use, allow it under certain conditions, or prohibit it entirely. The organization’s Human Consent Standard builds upon the Really Simple Licensing (RSL) framework, which was originally designed to help websites communicate permissions to AI systems. Now, that concept is being extended beyond websites and publishers to people themselves. As reported by The Verge, the initiative has already attracted support from major figures including George Clooney, Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, Viola Davis, and several leading entertainment organizations. https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/928534/rsl-media-human-consent-standard
The bigger question is whether consent can become part of AI’s infrastructure rather than an afterthought. Much of the current debate around AI revolves around lawsuits, copyright disputes, and questions of ownership. RSL Media is proposing a different path: creating a standardized system that allows humans to communicate their preferences before conflicts arise. If adopted broadly, it could become one of the first practical attempts to build trust between creators and AI companies at scale. In an industry obsessed with making AI more powerful, could the next breakthrough actually be making AI more respectful of human choice?
