Challenges for Shutterstock in the Age of Advanced Generative AIWith the evolution of AI technology, AI offers more customization possibilities and lower search costs, leading to an increasing number of customers favoring these solutions. This undoubtedly reduces the opportunities for businesses or individuals to use SSTK's services.
Cost Disadvantage: As a traditional stock photo company, SSTK faces higher costs in content acquisition and curation compared to AI platforms, which can generate content with minimal overhead. Notably, the well-known AI platform Midjourney operates with fewer than 10 developers, while SSTK employs 1,300 staff members.
Shift in Customer Preferences: The market is gradually leaning towards AI-generated content, as it can produce highly customized, unique, and finely adjustable images and videos, something SSTK's traditional methods cannot fully achieve.
Innovation Challenges: Although SSTK is collaborating with OpenAI, they face additional costs each time they attempt to create an image using AI. In contrast, using tools like ChatGPT, Dall-E, and Midjourney does not incur high costs for each generation.
Advanced AI Capabilities in Watermark Removal: The advancement in AI technology has reached a point where it can easily remove watermarks from copyrighted images, representing a significant leap in image processing capabilities. This challenges the traditional methods of protecting intellectual property rights, as it becomes difficult to determine whether an AI-generated image is based on a copyrighted photo, rendering SSTK's watermark protection (watermarks) less effective in safeguarding property rights.
