Apple Seeking Deal to License Billions of Images to Train AI Models - MacRumors
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Apple Seeking Deal to License Billions of Images to Train AI Models

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Apple is believed to be among the companies seeking an agreement with Photobucket to train its artificial intelligence models, Reuters reports.

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Photobucket's vast image library of over 13 billion photos and videos has attracted renewed interest as tech companies, including Apple, seek to license content for AI training purposes. The rise of generative AI has spurred demand for diverse datasets, and companies like Photobucket are able provide a vast amount of of visual data that could train AI to produce content in response to text prompts.

Apple already reached an agreement with Shutterstock to license millions of images shortly after the debut of ChatGPT in late 2022, in a deal believed to be worth $25 million to $50 million. The pursuit of "ethically sourced" and legally clear data marks a departure from the earlier practice of freely scraping web data. Apple is reportedly preparing to showcase a series of AI features with iOS 18 and its other major software updates at WWDC in June.

Tag: Artificial Intelligence

Top Rated Comments

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icanhazmac
26 months ago
Ug, so what I get from this is everyone using Photobucket "agreed" to have their pictures monetized? Gross.



Attachment Image
Score: 31 Votes (Like | Disagree)
erikkfi Avatar
erikkfi
26 months ago
And how much does each Photobucket uploader get per image under this "ethical deal"?
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
hooptyuber Avatar
hooptyuber
26 months ago
Photobucket is one of the sleaziest, worst companies to ever exist. They locked everyone's accounts and held them hostage for astronomical fees after letting everyone load up their accounts with images for free for a couple of years. They are total dirtbags.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
T
truthsteve
26 months ago
every single image apple generates will have a shutter stock watermark /s
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mousse Avatar
Mousse
26 months ago
I hope they at least eliminate the obviously stupid stock photos, especially the scientific and tech photos. Chemistry isn't about color water in erlenmeyer flasks.:rolleyes: Any tech who holds a soldering iron like this...šŸ˜°

AI is already stupid enough, but if we feed it the worst of human stupidity.

Feed the AI a lot of Hide the Pain Harold ('https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hide_the_Pain_Harold') images. I can't get enough of Harold.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
hooptyuber Avatar
hooptyuber
26 months ago

Thereā€™s no such thing as ā€œfreeā€ when it comes to hosting your content.
Yeah, we all know that. What Photobucket did was akin to extortion. Going from ā€œfreeā€ to a $400 or a thousand dollars per year fee to access your photos is not ethical. They were even given an F rating by the Denver Better Business Bureau.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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