The landscape of creative opportunity is continuing to evolve, and technology is playing an even more instrumental role. AI is an exciting tool that has quickly become a big part of the discourse on creative production.
As AI-powered tools become more accessible, it is important for us to address the impact AI has on our artist community as it relates to content made licensable on TurboSquid. TurboSquid, in line with its parent company Shutterstock, is taking an ethically responsible approach to AI on its platforms. We want to ensure that artists are properly compensated for their contributions to AI projects while supporting customers with the protections and coverage issued through the TurboSquid license.
In order to ensure that customers are protected, that intellectual property is not misused, and that artists’ are compensated for their work, TurboSquid will not accept content uploaded and sold on our marketplace that is generated by AI. Per our Publisher Agreement, artists must have proven IP ownership of all content that is submitted. AI-generated content is produced using machine learning models that are trained using many other creative assets. As a result, we cannot accept content generated by AI because its authorship cannot be attributed to an individual person, and we would be unable to ensure that all artists who were involved in the generation of that content are compensated.
In line with this approach, our parent company Shutterstock is leading the way by partnering with the premier AI companies in the world that are building responsibly sourced AI generative content models, as well as offering tools and experiences that will enable customers to instantly generate and download images based on the keywords they enter.
Shutterstock’s Datasets and AI-generated Content: Contributor FAQ provides context about these deals–which range from AI partnerships to other emerging technologies and platforms. Here is what you need to know as a TurboSquid artist:
- TurboSquid content is not involved in every deal mentioned in the Shutterstock materials and will only be utilized in projects for which the content would be relevant.
- For any TurboSquid content used in ShutterStock deals, earnings from datasets are pooled in a collective fund and will be distributed every three to six months. If you have generated earnings from the fund, you will see those posted in your Earnings Summary, labeled as “Contributor Fund” earnings.
- In the coming days we will be adding an option in the contributor account settings that will allow you to opt out of having your content included in future datasets, also known as data deals.
- TurboSquid content is not part of the new Shutterstock AI Image Generator.
As innovation of this ground-breaking technology continues, we’re excited to see TurboSquid play an even larger role. Please familiarize yourself with the materials so that you’re aware of the roles that Shutterstock and TurboSquid anticipate playing in this space and understand the philosophy on compensation.