Observed Signal · Jun 27, 2025 · Company Profile · Source: Tech.eu · Impact: 2/5 · Sentiment: Neutral
HOLYWATER's $70M ARR AI Romance Empire Raises Storytelling Questions
HOLYWATER, a Ukrainian-founded transmedia company, has built a romance media empire generating $70M in annual recurring revenue through AI-powered content apps like My Passion, My Drama, and My Hero. The company leverages open-source AI models to create personalized storytelling experiences for over 32 million users. However, the rise of AI in fiction raises ethical concerns, as authors like LA Witt found their books used without consent to train AI models. A recent legal ruling established that training AI on copyrighted works constitutes fair use, while pirating them does not. The article explores the tension between AI-driven innovation and the preservation of human creativity and intellectual property.
Article covers AI-driven content creation and its ethical implications, relevant to media and AI technologies, but not directly impacting AdTech infrastructure or advertising practices.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- HOLYWATER achieves $70 million in annual recurring revenue.
- My Passion, HOLYWATER's ebook app, generates $26 million in annual revenue.
- My Drama has 6.8 million monthly active users.
- HOLYWATER uses open-source AI models LLaMA and Stable Diffusion.
- A federal judge ruled training AI on authors' books is fair use, but pirating them is not.
- Author LA Witt discovered over 100 of her books were used to train AI without consent.
Connected Companies & Entities
6 Entities mapped“Meta, Bloomberg, and others used a dataset of pirated ebooks known as Book3 to train their models....”
“Meta, Bloomberg, and others used a dataset of pirated ebooks known as Book3 to train their models....”
“a federal judge in California ruled that while Anthropic likely violated copyright law by pirating authors' books......”
“Utilising tools like Midjourney and Runway, it assists in scriptwriting, visual creation, and quality control....”
“Utilising tools like Midjourney and Runway, it assists in scriptwriting, visual creation, and quality control....”
“an article by The Atlantic revealed that Meta, Bloomberg, and others used a dataset of pirated ebooks known as Book3 to train their models....”
Ontology Mapping & Concepts
Related Market Signals & Shifts
Recent verified developments and strategic activity across this market segment.
AI Price War: OpenAI Gains Ground on Anthropic
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AWNY, Jupiter Fest Spotlight Agentic Ads and Open Web
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ICANN Receives 1,615 New Top-Level Domain Applications
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has accepted applications for new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) for the first time since 2012. A total of 1,615 applications were submitted by 481 applicants, with a strong focus on AI-related domains. Ten companies, including Meta and OpenAI, applied for .agent, seven for .agi, and six for .asi. Meta filed 21 applications, including .instagram and .threads, while OpenAI filed 15, including .chatgpt and .codex. German entities like Adidas, Biontech, and Allianz also applied for brand-specific domains. The application fee can be up to $227,000 per domain. The article also highlights the financial success of country-code TLDs like .ai, which earned Anguilla about €59 million by November 2025.
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