Photobucket to license 13 billion images for AI training

Remember Photobucket, the image-sharing platform that ruled the early Internet while we still had our Myspace profiles? While its user base has dwindled to a mere 2 million today, it has a massive archive of 13 billion images! And all those images are going to be licensed for AI training. That’s right: your vacation pics and cat photos you uploaded years ago are there, too.

Currently, Ted Leonard, the CEO of a 40-person company located in Edwards, Colorado, is in discussions with various tech companies to license Photobucket’s extensive collection. The goal of the licensing agreement is to utilize generative AI models to create fresh content based on text prompts.

“We’ve spoken to companies that have said, ‘We need way more,’” Leonard told Reuters. He said that one buyer wanted over a billion videos, more than all of us have uploaded on the platform. “You scratch your head and say, where do you get that?” he added.

According to Leonard, the pricing for the license is flexible and depends on the buyer’s needs and the types of content they require. Reuters reports that Leonard has mentioned that he’s discussed rates ranging from 5 cents to $1 dollar per photo and more than $1 per video.

This newfound market for “private” data highlights the growing importance of data in general and the complexities of valuing and ethically handling it. It’s a bit of a wild west out there, with companies scrambling to stake their claim in this potentially massive space.

Potential dangers

The Reuters article mentions Photobucket can’t disclose who is licensing the data due to confidentiality. But, it could be companies developing AI for all kinds of purposes. Some of these uses might be unexpected or even undesirable to the user. In the worst case, your photos could be incorporated into AI-generated content that is offensive or harmful.

Loss of control is another potential concern. Once you upload photos to Photobucket, you relinquish some control over them. While Photobucket may not publicly share your images, they could be used to create entirely new content that you have no say over.

There’s also the question of copyright. Artists have already filed lawsuits against companies behind Stable Diffusion, Midjourney, DreamUp, and other generative AI platforms. To freshen your memory – these platforms used their artwork without permission to train their algorithms. The same happened with the Authors Guild and their lawsuit against OpenAI.

Last year, a coalition of photo agencies and media organizations issued an open letter asking for action on AI’s impact on intellectual property rights and copyright law. however, for now – the future isn’t looking bright.

[via Light Stalking; lead image generated with Midjourney]

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