June 26, 2026, Palo Alto, USA, Chainwire
Toss users can now train AI and get paid for it by providing real-world data, with the first model launching in Korea ahead of global expansion.
Poseidon, a data infrastructure built to source and license real-world data for AI, today announced a partnership with Toss, a mobile finance platform operated by Viva Republica, to enable everyday users to contribute to AI training and get paid for what they provide. This is Toss’ first foray into AI data and opens its market to approximately 30 million users.
Frontier AI doesn’t have the internet to scratch. The next generation of models relies on real data—the kind that captures how people actually talk, move, and react. This data did not exist on the public web, and there was no clear way to source it, license it, or pay for it. Poseidon is building the infrastructure to change this, and Toss provides the scope to do this at scale.
Through this partnership, Numo, Poseidon’s contributor app, will be launched within the Toss app. Toss users can help build Korean language education data across audio, images, and video, and receive payments directly based on their contributions. Poseidon provides the infrastructure to track each contribution and its value, while Toss provides the user base and financial experience that converts participation into payments. Together, they provide practical answers to a question the AI industry has been grappling with: how to reward people whose data makes their models better.
All contributions made through Numo are registered in DATA, the AI data network where Poseidon cleans data. DATA provides verifiable provenance tracking for each record through its public audit layer, Trace, so purchasers can verify the provenance of their training data and contributors can verify that their work has been counted and paid for. The DATA Foundation, which launched this week with a rebranding of Story, is building this layer with integration partners including Kled, a human data marketplace and Poseidon one of the largest sources of refined data flowing into it.
What Numo collects is first-person data recorded by real people in real environments, which is one of the hardest and most valuable categories to obtain. This is the raw material for AI, or physical intelligence, that must operate in the physical world across robotics, self-driving cars, and other applications. Demand for such data from global AI labs is rapidly increasing, and Korea is in a position to supply it based on its dense real-life data and Toss’ user base. Poseidon and Toss plan to expand into the global market after proving their models domestically.
Seo Chang-hoon, head of Toss’ new business division, said, “As the AI industry grows, the demand for high-quality data is also rapidly increasing. Toss plans to build an environment where users can participate in the data economy more easily and naturally, and expand the structure in which the value of contributions is transparently rewarded.”
“Korea is one of the few markets where the strategic importance of AI data, a mature financial system, and a world-class mobile experience all exist at the same time,” said Seung-Hyeon Lee, Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) of Poseidon. “Toss is the optimal partner that can transform user-contributed AI data from initial ideas into standards that can be adopted around the world.” CEO Lee previously founded the web novel platform Radish and sold it to Kakao Entertainment, and co-founded Story, an IP infrastructure company recently rebranded as the DATA Foundation, and was selected as a Young Global Leader at this year’s World Economic Forum (WEF).
Introduction to Poseidon
Poseidon is a data infrastructure for AI built to source, cleanse, and license the real-world data needed for frontier models that the open internet cannot provide. Incubated by The DATA Network team, Poseidon bridges the gap between data supply and AI demand by enabling access to high-quality, IP-safe, and composable training datasets. Poseidon raised a $15 million seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). Numo, a Poseidon contributor app, has recorded over 711,000 data registrations globally and is now available in the Toss app.
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