AI Market Stalls Despite Hype
AI has proliferated across nearly every digital platform, with major firms fueling the hype. Yet the long‑term audience for AI‑generated media has yet to be established. While the flood of low‑quality content can be overwhelming, concrete numbers show that sales of AI‑produced goods have stagnated despite the technology’s ubiquity.
CGTrader, one of the longest‑running marketplaces for 3D assets, recently published its annual report of trends and growth. The site lets users buy and sell their models for use in games, animation and 3D printing, even for commercial purposes. As highlighted by 404 Media’s Emanuel Maiberg, approximately a sixth of new items for sale are generated by AI, yet only one percent of sales involve these items.
“Our goal isn’t to increase the volume of AI-made assets on the marketplace,” CGTrader CEO Dalia Lašaitė tells Maiberg. “It’s to give designers better tools to work faster and focus more of their time on creative work. Ultimately, buyers will choose the assets that best meet their needs. The distinction that matters most isn’t whether an asset is AI- or human-generated, but whether it meets the required quality standard.”
According to the report, surveyed buyers cite quality as the main reason they skipped AI‑generated goods. Only five percent of buyers were satisfied with AI purchases, and just four percent of overall users think AI “works well.” It seems logical that, if the end product is just a few prompts away, why would anyone buy something they didn’t actually make?
While the report shows strong user consensus, it also complicates CGTrader’s business. In March, the site signed a deal with tech giant Tencent to streamline its AI initiatives and refine user‑made models, potentially turning the platform into a showroom for AI rigs. However, sales data suggest those models are gathering dust.
CGTrader is not alone; every major platform is investing millions in AI while struggling to trim the resulting monstrosities from public consumption. The core issue remains that none of these AI companies have figured out how to turn a profit, yet they still expect others to bear the cost.
