Photobucket Reportedly In Talks To License 13 Billion Images To AI Tools

Photo 119490765 © Sharaf Maksumov | Dreamstime.com

Photobucket, once a leading image-hosting destination in the early 2000s, is reportedly dusting off old photos to help train artificial intelligence models—including your embarrassing vacation pictures.

Now in the frame for a different kind of exposure, the company is said to be in talks with various technology firms about licensing its vast library of 13 billion photos and videos to boost their datasets and help enhance AI capabilities. This move is part of a wider trend where tech giants are on the hunt for large amounts of content for machine learning.

For the financially struggling, former photo heavyweight—previously boasting as many as 70 million users during its prime but only serving two million in recent years—this presents a potential lifeline.

Photobucket’s CEO, Ted Leonard, tells Reuters that he’s discussing rates for licensing photos and videos with several tech companies. The rates vary widely, ranging from five cents to US$1 per photo and more than US$1 per video, depending on the buyer and the types of imagery desired.

Leonard shares that companies have requested “way more” than what is inside existing data banks. One client even asked to obtain a billion videos, which is more than what’s stored by the website.

Last October, Photobucket updated its terms of service, granting the company “unrestricted rights” to sell user-uploaded content for AI training purposes. With a whopping 13 billion photos and videos in its archive, it could be sitting on a goldmine of content worth billions of dollars, perhaps to the dismay of many longtime members.

Leonard says this avenue, which he sees as an alternative to advertising placements, is how Photobucket can continue supporting free accounts. At the same time, “We need to pay our bills.”

[via PetaPixel, Reuters, Australian Photography, cover photo 119490765 © Sharaf Maksumov | Dreamstime.com]