NEW YORK, August 6. /TASS/. The American platform Verb is launching a marketplace that allows individuals to sell their personal data directly to companies, shifting consumers into a market where their information was previously extracted virtually for free, Axios reported.

To participate, users must install the Verb tracker, which monitors selected data categories, including shopping preferences and social media usage. Users can opt out of the collection of any information they do not wish to make public, such as their search history.

Marketplace customers set their own prices for their data, though the platform can recommend an estimated value depending on the information provided. Verb stated that it will not analyze certain sensitive categories, including passwords, text messages, and health data.

Verb CEO and co-founder Cyrus Beschloss acknowledged the risks of data breaches but asserted that the platform was designed with these threats in mind. According to him, the marketplace will create "a completely new asset class." Artificial intelligence labs, which require vast amounts of data to train future models, are expected to be among the largest consumers of this information.