YouTubers Are Selling Their Unused Video Footage to AI Companies

YouTube, Instagram, TikTok creators licensing video footage
OpenAI, Google paying thousands for content to train AI models

By selling that content to AI companies, creators have a way to diversify their income beyond advertising deals with brands.Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

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By Aisha Counts

January 10, 2025 at 5:00 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

YouTubers and other digital content creators are selling their unused video footage to artificial intelligence companies seeking exclusive videos to better train their AI algorithms, oftentimes netting thousands of dollars per deal.

OpenAI, Alphabet Inc.’s Google, AI media company Moonvalley and several other AI companies are collectively paying hundreds of content creators for access to their unpublished videos, according to people familiar with the negotiations. That content, which hasn’t been posted elsewhere online, is considered valuable for training artificial intelligence systems since it’s unique.