Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
69,086
40,119


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

hey-siri-banner-apple.jpg

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.

Article Link: Apple Seeking Deal to License Billions of Images to Train AI Models
 
  • Love
  • Like
Reactions: SFjohn and KeithBN
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.
 
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.
I’d imagine this happened after a buyout or something? There’s no such thing as “free” when it comes to hosting your content. This cycle happens again and again in business.
 
Given that the Mac’s user base is built solidly on digital creatives it’s gonna be interesting to see how Apple walk the tightrope of appearing to empower these users vs appearing to promote their replacement.

That said I remain convinced that truly creative people shouldn’t have anything to fear in an AI future (career wise at least lol). Users with inherent creativity will always be able to produce better content, no matter the means of production.
 
There’s no such thing as “free” when it comes to hosting your content.
Yeah, we all know that. What Photobucket did was akin to extortion. Going from “free” 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.
 
Last edited:
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...😰
soldering-iron-fail-stock-image-bob-byron-2.jpg

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 images. I can't get enough of Harold.
 
Yeah, we all know that. What Photobucket did was akin to extortion. Going from “free” to a $400 or a thousand dollars per year to access your photos is not ethical. They were even given an F rating by the Denver Better Business Bureau.
And rightfully so. When did ethics become part of business? Anything driven by the profit motive will eventually screw people over.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Joe Crow
This is one area (images) where Apple will be at a disadvantage as compared to Google or Meta.

Apple always could start a campaign (opt in) with their users, but it would go against their privacy policy. Provide a free photo storage service for 1 - 2 TB, but notify anyone who uses this service that they are opting in for training Apple's AI.

Sadly many don't know that when they post images on FB or Instagram, they are an active member in training Meta's AI. It's smart, but also a bit disconcerting as posts, plus the metadata we add (captions or Hashtags) is helping fuel a company with (sometimes) questionable. motives.
 
I wonder if Apple will want a 30% cut of everything you create using their AI. Surely they won’t be giving away their hard work on AI services for free. ;)
 
  • Like
Reactions: maxoakland
Apple always could start a campaign (opt in) with their users, but it would go against their privacy policy. Provide a free photo storage service for 1 - 2 TB, but notify anyone who uses this service that they are opting in for training Apple's AI.
Photos alone are useless for training AI. You need photos with reliable labeling of the contents depicted. That’s why AI-building companies go for the stock-photo services.
 
  • Like
Reactions: arkitect
Photos alone are useless for training AI. You need photos with reliable labeling of the contents depicted. That’s why AI-building companies go for the stock-photo services.
I am aware of that. I didn't comment to that in the Apple portion of my post, but did on my comments to Meta.

Clearly (and perhaps I should have said this), people who opted in for free photo storage would have to provide captions, metadata or other context to the photos as well.
 
This is one area (images) where Apple will be at a disadvantage as compared to Google or Meta.

Apple always could start a campaign (opt in) with their users, but it would go against their privacy policy. Provide a free photo storage service for 1 - 2 TB, but notify anyone who uses this service that they are opting in for training Apple's AI.

Sadly many don't know that when they post images on FB or Instagram, they are an active member in training Meta's AI. It's smart, but also a bit disconcerting as posts, plus the metadata we add (captions or Hashtags) is helping fuel a company with (sometimes) questionable. motives.
CSAM any one? Ironically, Apple's privacy claims were taken too seriously by its users causing an outrage resulting in its abandonment. :)
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.