Data trading platform Verb is launching a marketplace that lets consumers sell their personal data directly to companies, Axios reported on Aug. 6.

AI companies have so far bought or collected datasets from publishers, app developers and data brokers, the report said. Verb launched the marketplace on the view that consumers will also want a share of that, and it supports that.

Cyrus Beschloss (사이러스 베슐로스), Verb's CEO and co-founder, said Verb will be where people come to monetize what they have given away for free for decades. He predicted AI labs that train models with vast amounts of data will be the biggest buyers.

Verb Exchange collects selected activity data such as shopping habits and social media use when users install the Verb tracker on their phones. Users can remove items they do not want included, and the more they share, the higher the price they can set. Users set the price, while Verb presents an estimated value based on what is shared. Any company can buy the data, but users can also specify certain companies they do not want to sell to.

Privacy concerns are also significant. Verb said it excludes passwords, text messages and health data from analysis. Even so, Beschloss acknowledged the risk of data leaks and said the platform was designed with such threats in mind. He stressed that if it cannot tell users their data is safe, it cannot be a company, and if it cannot do that, it does not deserve to exist.