Guide
Training license vs evaluation license
Quick answer
Businesses in the U.S., Canada, the EU, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, India, Singapore, South Africa, Latin America, the UAE and Saudi Arabia typically encounter two types of licenses when working with AI labs and data buyers: training and evaluation. A training license allows the buyer to use the data to improve the model's core intelligence, while an evaluation license is restricted to testing how well a model performs against a specific set of 'ground truth' data.
The facts, from public sources#
- Training licenses allow data to be used in the development of model weights.
- Evaluation licenses are used for benchmarking and testing model performance.
- Most high-value enterprise deals are structured as training licenses.
Permanent vs temporary use#
A training license is usually broader. Once data is ingested into a model's weights, it cannot be easily removed. Therefore, these licenses grant the buyer the right to keep the data as part of their training set permanently.
An evaluation license is more limited. The data is used as a benchmark to see if the model produces the correct answers. The buyer often agrees not to use this data for training so that the test remains valid.
Pricing and value#
Training licenses are the most common way businesses monetize their records and typically carry higher value because they contribute to the actual development of the AI. Evaluation licenses may be used as a precursor to a larger training deal, allowing the buyer to verify the quality of the data first.
In some cases, a buyer might pay for a short-term evaluation license to see if a dataset is relevant to their needs before committing to a full training license.
Related comparisons
See if your company qualifies
A short company assessment. No data uploads are needed.