# AI training data statistics

URL: https://aidataforsale.com/ai-training-data-statistics
Publisher: AI Data For Sale (Marketing Signals Ltd)
Updated: 2026-11-10

Sourced statistics on the AI training data market: data supply, prices per image and minute, licensing deals, vendor revenues, market size forecasts and lawsuits.

The numbers behind the AI training data market, each with its source and date. We list only figures we can verify.

## In short

- Epoch AI estimated about 300 trillion tokens of public human text, likely fully used between 2026 and 2032.
- Published prices range from $0.001 per word of text to $100 to $300 per hour of film.
- Anthropic's $1.5 billion settlement in Bartz v. Anthropic, about $3,000 per book, is the largest copyright settlement on record.
- One forecast put the AI training dataset market at $2.62 billion in 2024, rising to $18.47 billion by 2034.

## Data supply

| Statistic | Figure | Source |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Stock of human-generated public text | About 300 trillion tokens (90% interval 100 to 1,000 trillion) | [Epoch AI, June 2024](https://epoch.ai/blog/will-we-run-out-of-data-limits-of-llm-scaling-based-on-human-generated-data) |
| When that stock is fully used | Between 2026 and 2032 (80% interval) | [Epoch AI, June 2024](https://epoch.ai/blog/will-we-run-out-of-data-limits-of-llm-scaling-based-on-human-generated-data) |
| C4 tokens fully restricted to AI crawlers in one year | 5% or more | [Consent in Crisis, July 2024](https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.14933) |
| Critical C4 sources fully restricted in one year | 28% or more | [Consent in Crisis, July 2024](https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.14933) |

## Prices

| Data | Price | Source |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Images, large archive (Freepik) | $0.02 to $0.04 per image | [Reuters, April 2024](https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/04/26/inside-big-techs-underground-race-to-buy-ai-training-data) |
| Photos (Photobucket) | $0.05 to $1 per photo | [Reuters, April 2024](https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/04/26/inside-big-techs-underground-race-to-buy-ai-training-data) |
| Images (Defined.ai) | $1 to $2 per image | [Reuters, April 2024](https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/04/26/inside-big-techs-underground-race-to-buy-ai-training-data) |
| Short-form video (Defined.ai) | $2 to $4 per video | [Reuters, April 2024](https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/04/26/inside-big-techs-underground-race-to-buy-ai-training-data) |
| Longer films (Defined.ai) | $100 to $300 per hour | [Reuters, April 2024](https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/04/26/inside-big-techs-underground-race-to-buy-ai-training-data) |
| Text (Defined.ai) | About $0.001 per word | [Reuters, April 2024](https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/04/26/inside-big-techs-underground-race-to-buy-ai-training-data) |
| Unpublished creator video | $1 to $4 per minute | [Bloomberg, January 2025](https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2025/01/13/youtubers-are-selling-their-unused-video-footage-to-ai-companies) |
| Closed startup's codebase | About $25,000 | [MIT Technology Review, October 2026](https://technologyreview.com/2026/10/13/1145755/ai-labs-buying-data-from-dead-startups-to-train-models) |

More on [AI data prices](https://aidataforsale.com/ai-data-prices).

## Deals

| Deal | Value | Source |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reddit and Google | About $60 million a year | [The Decoder, February 2024](https://the-decoder.com/reddit-signs-60-million-annual-training-data-deal-with-google/) |
| Shutterstock AI licensing | $104 million in a year | [PetaPixel, June 2024](https://petapixel.com/2024/06/04/shutterstock-made-104-million-licensing-assets-to-ai-devs-last-year) |
| Shutterstock initial deals | $25 million to $50 million each | [Reuters, April 2024](https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/04/26/inside-big-techs-underground-race-to-buy-ai-training-data) |
| Wiley AI rights deals | $44 million expected | [The Bookseller, August 2024](https://thebookseller.com/news/wiley-set-to-earn-44m-from-ai-rights-deals-confirms-no-opt-out-for-authors) |
| Spirit Airlines data to Alphabet | $10 million | [TravelPulse, August 2026](https://www.travelpulse.com/news/airlines-airports/google-buys-spirit-airlines-data-for-10-million) |
| Spirit data volume | About 100 million emails and 500 million Teams messages | [TravelPulse, August 2026](https://www.travelpulse.com/news/airlines-airports/google-buys-spirit-airlines-data-for-10-million) |
| Troveo payments to creators | More than $5 million | [Bloomberg, January 2025](https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2025/01/13/youtubers-are-selling-their-unused-video-footage-to-ai-companies) |
| SimpleClosure Asset Hub | More than 150 deals; over $10 million expected by end of 2026 | [MIT Technology Review, October 2026](https://technologyreview.com/2026/10/13/1145755/ai-labs-buying-data-from-dead-startups-to-train-models) |
| SimpleClosure deals including code or data | 47% | [RuntimeWire, October 2026](https://runtimewire.com/article/simpleclosure-startup-data-sales-ai-buyers) |

More on [AI data deals](https://aidataforsale.com/ai-data-deals).

## Companies

| Statistic | Figure | Source |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Scale AI revenue, 2024 | About $870 million | [SiliconANGLE, June 2025](https://siliconangle.com/2025/06/08/report-meta-holding-talks-10b-investment-data-labeling-startup-scale-ai/) |
| Scale AI contractors with a PhD | About 12% | [SiliconANGLE, June 2025](https://siliconangle.com/2025/06/08/report-meta-holding-talks-10b-investment-data-labeling-startup-scale-ai/) |
| Surge AI revenue, 2024 | $1.2 billion | [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surge_AI) |
| Mercor valuation | $10 billion (October 2025) | [TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/27/mercor-quintuples-valuation-to-10b-with-350M-series-c/) |
| Mercor payments to contractors | More than $1.5 million a day | [TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/27/mercor-quintuples-valuation-to-10b-with-350M-series-c/) |
| Mercor experts' average pay | Over $85 an hour | [TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/27/mercor-quintuples-valuation-to-10b-with-350M-series-c/) |
| Appen revenue, first half 2024 | $113.4 million, down 18.4% | [Staffing Industry Analysts](https://www.staffingindustry.com/news/global-daily-news/appen-h1-operating-revenue-falls-with-google-contract-termination) |
| Protege funding | $25 million Series A (August 2025) plus $30 million (January 2026) | [SiliconANGLE](https://siliconangle.com/2026/01/08/protege-raises-30m-grow-governed-marketplace-ai-training-data/) |

## Market size

| Statistic | Figure | Source |
| --- | --- | --- |
| AI training dataset market, 2024 | About $2.62 billion | [ResearchAndMarkets, May 2025](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250513018913/en) |
| Forecast, 2029 | $7.3 billion | [ResearchAndMarkets, May 2025](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250513018913/en) |
| Forecast, 2034 | $18.47 billion | [ResearchAndMarkets, May 2025](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250513018913/en) |

Market size forecasts vary widely between research firms and depend on what they count. Treat them as indications, not facts.

## Legal

| Statistic | Figure | Source |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Bartz v. Anthropic settlement | $1.5 billion | [JURIST, July 2026](https://www.jurist.org/news/2026/07/judge-approves-record-1-5-billion-settlement-involving-anthropic/) |
| Payment per book | About $3,000 | [JURIST, July 2026](https://www.jurist.org/news/2026/07/judge-approves-record-1-5-billion-settlement-involving-anthropic/) |

See the [AI copyright lawsuits tracker](https://aidataforsale.com/ai-copyright-lawsuits).

## Using these statistics

You are welcome to cite these figures. Please link to the original source and to this page. Spotted an error or a newer figure? Email us with the source.

## Questions

### How big is the AI training data market?

One forecast, from ResearchAndMarkets, put it at about $2.62 billion in 2024 and $18.47 billion by 2034. Other firms publish different numbers.

### Will AI run out of training data?

Epoch AI projected that the stock of public human-written text would be fully used between 2026 and 2032 at current trends. Private, licensed and multimodal data extend that.

## Sources

- [Epoch AI: Will we run out of data? Limits of LLM scaling based on human-generated data (June 2024)](https://epoch.ai/blog/will-we-run-out-of-data-limits-of-llm-scaling-based-on-human-generated-data)
- [Longpre et al.: Consent in Crisis, the rapid decline of the AI data commons (Data Provenance Initiative, July 2024)](https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.14933)
- [Reuters via The Star: Inside Big Tech's underground race to buy AI training data (April 2024)](https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/04/26/inside-big-techs-underground-race-to-buy-ai-training-data)
- [Bloomberg via The Star: YouTubers are selling their unused video footage to AI companies (January 2025)](https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2025/01/13/youtubers-are-selling-their-unused-video-footage-to-ai-companies)
- [MIT Technology Review: AI labs are buying data from dead startups to train models (October 2026)](https://technologyreview.com/2026/10/13/1145755/ai-labs-buying-data-from-dead-startups-to-train-models)
- [The Decoder: Reddit signs $60 million annual training data deal with Google](https://the-decoder.com/reddit-signs-60-million-annual-training-data-deal-with-google/)
- [PetaPixel: Shutterstock made $104 million licensing assets to AI developers last year (June 2024)](https://petapixel.com/2024/06/04/shutterstock-made-104-million-licensing-assets-to-ai-devs-last-year)
- [The Bookseller: Wiley set to earn $44m from AI rights deals (August 2024)](https://thebookseller.com/news/wiley-set-to-earn-44m-from-ai-rights-deals-confirms-no-opt-out-for-authors)
- [TravelPulse: Google buys Spirit Airlines' data for $10 million (August 2026)](https://www.travelpulse.com/news/airlines-airports/google-buys-spirit-airlines-data-for-10-million)
- [RuntimeWire: SimpleClosure says 47% of its deals now include code or data sales (October 2026)](https://runtimewire.com/article/simpleclosure-startup-data-sales-ai-buyers)
- [SiliconANGLE: Meta reportedly in talks on $10B+ investment in Scale AI (June 2025)](https://siliconangle.com/2025/06/08/report-meta-holding-talks-10b-investment-data-labeling-startup-scale-ai/)
- [Wikipedia: Surge AI](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surge_AI)
- [TechCrunch: Mercor quintuples valuation to $10B with $350M Series C (October 2025)](https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/27/mercor-quintuples-valuation-to-10b-with-350M-series-c/)
- [Staffing Industry Analysts: Appen H1 operating revenue falls with Google contract termination (August 2024)](https://www.staffingindustry.com/news/global-daily-news/appen-h1-operating-revenue-falls-with-google-contract-termination)
- [SiliconANGLE: Protege raises $30M to grow its governed marketplace for AI training data (January 2026)](https://siliconangle.com/2026/01/08/protege-raises-30m-grow-governed-marketplace-ai-training-data/)
- [ResearchAndMarkets via Business Wire: AI training dataset market opportunities and strategies to 2034 (May 2025)](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250513018913/en)
- [JURIST: Judge approves record $1.5 billion AI copyright settlement involving Anthropic (July 2026)](https://www.jurist.org/news/2026/07/judge-approves-record-1-5-billion-settlement-involving-anthropic/)