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Photobucket in talks to license 13 billion photos and videos for AI training

Photobucket's chief executive told Reuters the image-hosting site was in talks with multiple tech companies to license 13 billion photos and videos for AI training, at rates between 5 cents and $1 per photo and more than $1 per video. No buyer was named and no signed contract was reported.

April 5, 2024 Photobucket, once a leading image-hosting site, was in talks with multiple technology companies to license its archive of 13 billion photos and videos for training generative AI, Reuters reported.1 No buyer was named and no signed deal was reported.

Terms under discussion

Chief executive Ted Leonard said the rates under discussion ranged from 5 cents to $1 per photo and above $1 per video, depending on the buyer and the type of imagery.1 One prospective buyer reportedly wanted more than a billion videos, which is more than the platform has.1

Reuters said an October update to Photobucket's terms of service gave the company an "unrestricted right" to sell uploaded content for AI training.1

Background

Reuters described Photobucket as having had 70 million users and nearly half of the US online photo market in the early 2000s, and said Similarweb put its current audience at about 2 million users. The company is run by a team of about 40 people in Edwards, Colorado.1

What it means for data sellers

The report shows that old consumer archives are being priced per item by AI buyers, and that the contract language users agreed to years earlier decides what a platform can sell. The quoted range is wide, so sellers should expect price to depend on content type and buyer. This entry is a news summary of talks, not a completed deal.

This entry is a news summary. SellYourAIData was not involved in the deal.

How the deal came together

  1. Terms of service updated. Reuters reported that an October terms-of-service update gave Photobucket an unrestricted right to sell uploaded content for AI training.
  2. Talks with several buyers. CEO Ted Leonard said he was negotiating with multiple technology companies over 13 billion photos and videos.
  3. Per-item pricing discussed. Rates of 5 cents to $1 per photo and more than $1 per video were discussed, varying by buyer and type of imagery.
  4. Buyers kept confidential. Photobucket did not identify the prospective buyers, and one was reported to want more than a billion videos, more than the platform holds.

Takeaways for companies with data

  • A legacy user-upload platform with a large archive can enter AI licensing talks, with prices quoted per item rather than as a lump sum.
  • Rights come from the platform's terms of service, so the wording users accepted determines what can be sold.
  • Quoted rates are negotiating positions, not closed prices, and the reported range spans a factor of twenty.

Sources

Every numbered reference above points to an entry here. Figures come from these pages as of the date shown at the top of the article. Where a source reports a number it got from unnamed people, the text says so.

  1. Inside Big Tech's underground race to buy AI training data (Reuters via KFGO, April 2024)

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About the AI Data Deal Tracker

SellYourAIData tracks publicly reported sales and licenses of data to AI companies, with the price, terms and sources for each. Entries are checked against public reporting and updated as deals change. SellYourAIData was not involved in this deal. To ask what your company's data could sell for, get a free valuation. To report a deal, contact us.