The Adobe stock photo stat that made me question the whole 'AI steals jobs' argument

I kept seeing everyone say AI art is gonna wipe out illustrators and photographers. So last month I dug into Adobe's 2024 stock contributor report. Turns out submissions from AI-assisted artists grew 40% but the average payout per image actually went up 12% from last year. I expected the opposite. That made me wonder if the fear is more about control than money. I'm not pro-AI slop, but this stat keeps nagging me. Has anyone else looked at actual platform numbers instead of just doomscroll predictions?

2 comments

2 Comments

laura_black2d ago

Wait, payouts went UP with more AI submissions?

troychen2d ago

@laura_black, they're gaming the stats, give the human-written ones a shot.