More than 15 billion images have already been created using text-to-image AI tools since 2022, according to recent research from Everypixel.
The report was based on an analysis conducted in August 2023 of available data from AI platforms.
The researchers estimate that some 12.6 billion images have been generated from AI models based on Stable Diffusion, 1 billion from Adobe Firefly, 964 million from Midjourney, and 916 million from DALL-E 2.
The researchers estimate it took 149 years for traditional photography to reach 15 billion images, compared with just 1.5 years for generative AI.
The researchers estimate that there are already nearly four times as many AI-generated images online as there are images in the Shutterstock library.
About the research: The report was based on an analysis conducted in August 2023 of available data from AI platforms.