“Unlocking the Hidden Potential: Why 2024’s AI Content Revolution Didn’t Happen—and What It Means for You”
In the whirlwind of AI news—an incessant tide of reports, trends, and predictions—it’s all too easy to get swept up in narratives that, let’s be honest, don’t always reflect reality. Take, for instance, the claim that the materials necessary for training AI are “disappearing.” A dramatic assertion indeed, it stemmed from a preprint titled “Consent in Crisis: The Rapid Decline of the AI Data Commons,” and gained traction in major media outlets like The New York Times. But here’s the kicker: data isn’t vanishing; in fact, it’s multiplying at an astronomical rate. By 2025, experts predict a staggering creation of 175 zetabytes of data—yes, that’s a 1 followed by 21 zeros! So, why the fuss? It seems we’re in the midst of a crucial paradigm shift—creators are now demanding consent for the use of their intellectual property, which, contrary to claims of crisis, speaks more to the established notion of ownership than to any actual disappearance of data. Let’s dive into why this transformation is happening now and what it means for all those invested in AI. LEARN MOREGiven the onslaught of stories about AI, it should not be surprising that reporting of “trends” will sometimes miss the mark. For example, last year there was a reported trend arguing that training materials used for AI were “disappearing.” This was advanced by a preprint entitled “Consent in Crisis: The Rapid Decline of the AI Data Commons,” and was then picked up by outlets such as The New York Times.
