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AI-Startup Launches Ever-Expanding Library of Free Stock Photos and Music (torrentfreak.com)
66 points by nen-nomad 7 months ago | hide | past | favorite | 35 comments



The images are generated, but the training set may be argued or not that they had some rights attached, even it they were the ones that the social network where they were posted and scrapped from had.

There are is money to be made in a way or another, same with music, wouldn’t be surprised if this kind of projects get hit directly or indirectly because of this.


Yeah it's going to be a lightning rod for copyright trolls if it gets popular. Ultimately that's a good thing. There's precedents that need to be worked out, and if they go the wrong way, consequences that will need to be lived with that hopefully restore common sense. It's not that different from the Napster days other than an infinitely weaker case for the copyright trolls.


I'm working on a golf startup atm, so this is relevant.

These are certainly generated, as virtually every golf club has an insane and unworkable head, just like Midjourney. AI doesn't seem to focus on that level of detail. Take this one for example which would launch the ball somewhere into the sun: https://stockcake.com/i/golf-swing-action_656275_515716

Others look something like a soup plate attached to a stick, and it is common to see right handed players using left handed clubs.


It mushes all the concepts together into very recognizable AI soup.

Let's see how it does with Native American

https://stockcake.com/i/historical-handshake-moment_626739_3...

https://stockcake.com/i/historical-handshake-moment_626741_3...

These could cause some upset... If you have to do this maybe at least avoid publishing anything tagged "History"?

https://stockcake.com/i/reindeer-caravan-march_309941_464989

Northern natives all have horns, right?


That definitely not the most upsetting part of the reindeer image though.


The harn-ass!


that's quite an uncomfortable pose, makes me feel similar to stock photos of someone holding a soldering iron like it's a pencil


Umm, isn't that how you're supposed to hold it? At least that's how I do.


I don't know how to hold a golf club but if you mean the soldering iron, I don't hold a pencil from 6 inches off the paper. Google "soldering iron stock photo" to see the alternative. As a friend of mine says, "if you smell cooked chicken, you're holding it wrong."


I'm no golf expert but I don't think this is how you do it

https://stockcake.com/i/golfers-perfect-swing_656278_515716

They have some very specific niches covered though, such as "soldier petting a dog with both right hands"

https://stockcake.com/i/soldier-embracing-dog_655559_294061

And "cat space adventure, wait, oh god we accidentally overfitted the model on dogecoin memes"

https://stockcake.com/i/cosmic-cat-adventure_353671_432927



It's really inspiring how he doesn't let his horribly deformed right arm stop him from playing golf.


You haven’t seen me play.


Cool, what's the startup?


Foogolf.com, golf simulation on the web.


I wonder if these images might still get you in trouble if they show copyrighted work like the Eiffeltower at night, the opera house in Sydney or Atomium in Brussels


Yea. The first front page image I see is Batman. More "AI democratizing art" , but really just more IP stealing.


I'm enjoying the "happy first birthday" stock photo, where presumably the baby is having a wine and cheese party

https://stockcake.com/i/wine-celebration-setup_855871_108599...


awesome project, might not last long if server costs arise.

but where are the images from ? scraped or self generated? how can i make sure that they are not copyrighted?


machine generated works cannot be copyrighted, but its a legal gray area as to whether creating the images violates copyright (in my opinion it is not fair use, as it displaces the market value of the work it is a derivative of)


But the use of each work is very minuscule in sum and is generally, if not always, an original new work. How is a Mona Lisa in the style of Van Gho a violation of the copyright of Mona Lisa or Van Gho? It is a new and unique work. Makes it a legitimate use. In fact, in certain cases the entire work can be used and is considered fair use.


Americans do pronounce his name "Venn Gho", but it is spelled Van Gogh!

Interestingly enough, there are many pronunciations of Van Gogh's name [1] (we French people say "Gog" rhyming with "dog"), but the rarest one is probably the one from his own native Brabant dialect.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_van_Gogh#cite_note-5


I was more so talking about Van Gho the music artist[0], mixed with a bit of Mona Lisa the band[1]. But to each their own

[0] https://www.facebook.com/VanGhoMusic/ [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mona_Lisa_(band)


LOL... I learned something today!


I agree that images produced are not derivatives of any particular copyrighted work, instead they are derivative of all copyrighted work. I don't think OpenAI et al should get a free pass for finding a way to rip everyone off at once, but it's certainly a new frontier in law, hence the gray area.


Well, in copyright law there is the De Minimis Concept, which kinda sorta allows, as you put it, OpenAI to "rip everyone off", despite everyone holding what they originally had.


Completely obvious they are generated. Just zoom in on anything that has text and it’s easy to notice.


I quickly perused StockCake's website to see where their training data/models came from, but couldn't find anything.

Depending on the licenses of the content it was trained on, this could be an elaborate way of "laundering" commercial stock photos and other content.

Of course, the legality of such things is being very actively litigated, will be interesting to see where it lands.


Must add that even if this is is not 100% quality, it is a HUUUGE threat to paid stock photos... I mean for 0 dollars why wouldn't you lower your bar little bit... or with some photos you get much better results with ai.

I'll bet Adobe or similiar will buy this 0,5 mil and just delete


> I'll bet Adobe or similiar will buy this 0,5 mil

May be that was the business plan, or 'plan B'


Wish they offered an API, this way they could commoditize two industries (stock photo and AI image-gen) in one fell swoop!


I checked out some pictures and some human hands have only 4 fingers. Did they use the Simpons as training set?


Enjoy these peace hand signs:

https://stockcake.com/i/peace-sign-gesture_399087_107292

https://stockcake.com/i/signaling-peace-sign_446139_596168

https://stockcake.com/i/peaceful-demonstration-outdoors_7056...

"The fingers are curled into the well-known peace sign, symbolizing tranquility, harmony, and non-violence. The neatly trimmed nails and smooth skin suggest a sense of care and refinement, while the gesture itself—a silent but powerful expression of hope and solidarity—resonates universally across cultures and languages."

Well, almost...


Your fifth finger has a different name.


I typed "Fly Fisher releasing chub" and it found nothing. I don't get it.




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