Paying For Original Content To Train Generative AI Models Will Eventually Be Normal.

A couple of months ago or so when OpenAI demonstrated videos generated using Sora, its Generative AI text-to-video offering, the whole world sat up and took notice when it became painfully obvious that this disruptive technology was much further along than anyone predicted given how good the videos it produced looked.

However, the bane of great Generative AI models of any kind is content. Indeed it’s clear that OpenAI trained ChatGPT on lots of publicly available content on the internet, often without consent or compensation that enabled them to effectively jumpstart the global Generative AI revolution.

As things stand, copyright infringement and unauthorized use of intellectual property on Generative AI models is a massively gray area but some are opting to avoid what may be the inevitable consequences of doing so.

Adobe, the creative design platforms behemoth has already proven that it’s doing things the right way when it started building its own Generative AI features and functionalities by opting to pay for and license creative content for its models.

This approach probably means Adobe doesn’t have as much content or can move as fast as those who ‘scrape’ it from the internet but its customers can rest assured it’s of high quality, ethically obtained, and most importantly, does not open the pandora’s box of litigation down the road.

Adobe is now paying as much as US$ 120 to acquire high-quality and original video assets from its creative partners and professionals to train its upcoming Generative AI video model that will presumably compete with OpenAI’s Sora. This will probably take lots of money and time for Adobe to be on par with Sora given how far along that model is at this time.

My sense is that going forward, after our current ambiguous phase of Generative AI momentum, the likes of Adobe could be the big winners in certain niches due to their pragmatic approach to sourcing content. This definitely slows them down but also ensures a safe road ahead for Adobe and its customers.