What are Shutterstock datasets?

Shutterstock datasets are a product offering developed to support companies building computer vision machine learning models. Shutterstock datasets are sets of visual content organized by a specific theme or topic that can include images (including photos, illustrations, and vectors), videos, audio (including music and sound effects), and 3D models. All content within datasets incorporates metadata, including keywords, descriptions, geo-location, and categories. Examples of datasets include a wide range of industry categories like food & beverage, transportation & autonomous vehicles, animals & wildlife, clothing & apparel, travel, tourism & hospitality, etc.

Datasets provide a potential new source of revenue by extending our reach to new customers that do not currently work with Shutterstock, including AI researchers, leading technology developers and manufacturers.

Is all TurboSquid content used in datasets?

No, TurboSquid content is only included in datasets for which 3D content would be relevant.

How do I get paid from dataset licensing activity?

For any TurboSquid content used in datasets, earnings are pooled in a collective fund and distributed to contributors periodically as the fund accumulates revenue. If you have generated earnings from the fund, you will see them posted in your Earnings Summary, labeled as “Contributor Fund” earnings. We will notify contributors via email if they have earned $25 or more through this program. 

How are my individual earnings calculated?

Contributors will receive a share of the entire contract value paid by customers licensing datasets. The share individual contributors receive will be based on several factors including count of assets, asset price and your royalty rate.

Why can’t I see the earnings and specific downloads from datasets in my Earnings Summary?

Due to their highly customized nature and scope of use, datasets are not a product that can be purchased directly on our website. Since datasets are manually curated, the individual assets that are included in this product are not reflected in your contributor account download history and Earnings Summary.

Can I opt my content out of datasets?

Yes, Shutterstock believes in giving contributors autonomy over how their content is used in the training of computer vision technologies. We have an option in the contributor account settings that will allow you to opt your content out of future dataset opportunities.

What value do I get from allowing my content to be included in datasets?

Datasets provide an incremental revenue stream to artists outside of normal licensing activity. Earnings are dependent on count and cost of assets so we encourage artists to actively upload content and price assets based on our pricing recommendations.

I opted out of datasets but I still received a payment. Why? 

As creative execution and understanding of policy around AI is evolving, we recognized that some artists may not wish to participate and would prefer to have their content excluded from the program, which is why we made an opt-out available in March 2023. There are some licensing activities that may have been carried out previous to artists opting out which artists may see in the Earnings Summary section of their dashboard.

I didn’t receive Contributor Fund earnings but I’m opted in to datasets. Why? 

There are a number of reasons why your content may not have been included in a customer’s dataset. It could be because your content did not meet the client’s criteria, because you were opted out when the content was pulled for client use, or because you were not a contributor on the site when the content was pulled for use. Since these deals are less frequent we will not be distributing royalties on a regular basis, but there will be other opportunities to earn royalties through this program.

Will TurboSquid content be used in the Shutterstock AI Image Generator offered on Shutterstock?

The Shutterstock AI Image Generator is a 2D text-to-image model. TurboSquid content was not used in the development of our AI Image Generator, nor can you create 3D images using it.

Will TurboSquid content be used in the 3D AI Generator, in partnership with NVIDIA?  

Yes, TurboSquid content has been included in the dataset used to train the 3D AI Generator that Shutterstock launched in partnership with NVIDIA. Royalties from revenue recognized from this program will be included in Contributor Fund payments.

You can learn more about data licensing and the Contributor Fund here.