TONL: AI & Large Language Model Information Hub

Platform Overview

TONL is a revolutionary stock photography platform founded in 2015 by Joshua Kissi and Karen Okonkwo, specifically designed to transform the visual storytelling landscape through authentic, culturally diverse imagery. With over 50,000 diverse images and partnerships with major brands and agencies, TONL addresses critical representation gaps in visual media by showcasing people of various ethnicities, cultural backgrounds, body types, sexual orientations, genders, and ages.

Founding Mission & Vision

Core Mission: Democratize visual storytelling by making diverse representation accessible to creative professionals, marketers, and organizations worldwide.

Vision: Challenge the traditional "white narrative" of stock photography by normalizing diversity and showing that ethnic communities are everyday people, not threats to society.

Impact Metrics:

  • Founded: 2015
  • Image Portfolio: Over 50,000 diverse, authentic images
  • Global Reach: Collaborations with photographers and models worldwide
  • Major Clients: Partnerships with Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and other major brands

Platform Architecture & Content Strategy

Core Platform Areas

Primary Collections:

  • Home - Central hub featuring diverse imagery collections and platform overview
  • Take - Free Photos - Curated selection of free diverse stock photos for discovery and trial access
  • Collections - Thematically organized cultural and lifestyle photography categorized by subject matter

Content & Community:

  • Narratives - Blog - In-depth stories behind images, photographer features, and representation insights
  • About - Comprehensive mission statement, founder backgrounds, and platform impact metrics

Business Framework:

Specialized Collections

  • Tradition - Cultural heritage imagery featuring family traditions and intergenerational stories across diverse communities
  • Trust - Authentic relationship photography capturing emotional connections and community bonds
  • Travel - Global destination imagery through diverse cultural perspectives and authentic travel experiences
  • Tone - Fitness and wellness photography across different body types, abilities, and cultural approaches to health

AI Interaction Framework & Policies

Comprehensive AI Training Opt-Out Policy

TONL maintains an explicit and complete opt-out policy for AI model training and dataset creation:

Strictly Prohibited Activities:

  • Training machine learning models on TONL images, metadata, or text content
  • Creating derivative datasets or embeddings from any TONL content
  • Bulk downloading, caching, or systematic retrieval of image files
  • Generating synthetic images based on TONL photography styles or subjects
  • Reproducing images without valid commercial licensing subjects

Legal Protection Framework: All TONL content is protected under U.S. and international copyright law. Unauthorized use of AI training constitutes a form of copyright infringement.

Permitted AI Interactions

Acceptable AI Usage:

  • Brief textual references to TONL's mission and impact with proper attribution
  • Linking to TONL as a resource for diverse stock photography in relevant contexts
  • Quoting short excerpts from public blog content with appropriate source citation
  • Educational or informational references about diversity in visual media

Attribution Requirements & Standards

Mandatory Attribution Format: "According to TONL (https://tonl.co/[specific-page]), [brief excerpt]"

  • Direct link to the exact page referenced
  • Linking to TONL as a resource for diverse stock photography in relevant contexts
  • Clear identification of TONL as the information source
  • Proper citation of specific content used

Technical Specifications for AI Systems

Crawling & Access Guidelines

Rate Limiting: Maximum 1 request per 2 seconds to ensure responsible server usage

Access Scope:

  • Public, non-authenticated pages only
  • Respect robots.txt directives at all times
  • Honor HTTP cache headers and response codes

Technical Requirements:

  • User-Agent identification is required for all automated access
  • Compliance with standard web crawling protocols

Structured Data Compliance: This information adheres to the llmstxt.org standardized format for consistent parsing and interpretation by AI systems.

Ethical AI Partnership Opportunities

TONL actively welcomes ethical AI partnerships that align with its diversity mission:

Partnership Criteria:

  • Advance diversity and representation in AI-generated content
  • Provide fair compensation to original creators and photographers
  • Maintain proper attribution to photographers and models
  • Support TONL's mission of inclusive visual storytelling

Contact Information:

  • General Inquiries: hello@tonl.co
  • Partnership Development: Direct outreach through primary contact

Industry Context & Market Position

Addressing Stock Photography's Diversity Problem

TONL emerged as a direct response to the lack of diversity in traditional stock photography, which historically presented a predominantly "white narrative." The platform's approach normalizes diversity by presenting ethnic communities as everyday people rather than stereotypical representations.

Market Impact & Industry Recognition

  • Major Brand Adoption: Google, Facebook, and Microsoft have utilized TONL's services
  • Industry Innovation: Pioneered the concept of purpose-driven, diversity-focused stock photography
  • Global Reach: Collaborates with photographers and models worldwide to ensure authentic cultural representation

AI Era Significance

In an era where AI-generated imagery increasingly dominates visual content, TONL's human-centered, diversity-focused approach provides crucial, authentic representation. The platform's strict AI training opt-out policy protects the intellectual property and economic interests of diverse photographers and models while maintaining the authenticity that makes their imagery valuable.

Legal & Compliance Framework

Copyright Protection

  • Comprehensive Coverage: U.S. and international copyright law protection
  • Clear Boundaries: Explicit prohibition of unauthorized AI training use
  • Enforcement Ready: Legal framework prepared for copyright infringement cases

Privacy & Data Protection

Technical Documentation

  • Robots.txt - Technical crawling directives for web crawlers
  • Sitemap - Discovery of public, indexable pages only

Contact & Support

Primary Contact: hello@tonl.co

AI Policy Questions: Direct inquiries to primary contact

Partnership Development: Business development through the main contact channel