58% of Photographers Have Lost Work to Generative AI: Survey
An Association of Photographers survey of its members has revealed an alarming statistic: 58% say they have lost work to generative AI.
The U.K.-based professional body for photographers released its survey results this week, in which it quizzed members on generative AI and how it is affecting them.
Of an estimated 3,000 members, 20% (600) responded to the survey. While the respondents reported a 10% year-on-year rise in income, there was an alarming downward trend in commissions and published images.
There was a 46% decrease in publicly visible photos online via the members’ websites, which the AOP says is “most likely concern over the illegal scraping of their work.”
Meanwhile, there was an even bigger decline in the number of commissioned images being licensed by AOP members: a 65% reduction.
Almost two-thirds of AOP members say they lost that commissioned work to generative AI services when compared to the 2025 survey results. That’s a total loss of £1,012 million ($1.4M), or £34,900 ($48,000) per person.
One AOP member says that while it’s hard to quantify fully, “my business turnover is down over 60% from last year.”
A convincing 98.4% say they want compensation for past infringements by AI companies. While every single member say they want transparency when tech firms train AI models with their images. When it comes to AI training, 85.3% wants the default position to be that rightsholders choose to ‘Opt-In’ for AI training purposes rather than have to ‘Opt-Out’.
In a sure sign of the bad feeling between creators and the AI industry, 89.9% say they’re not interested in licensing their images as data for machine learning. While 96.1% believe there should be a mandatory labeling requirement for AI-generated works.
The survey comes as the AOP team up with four other U.K.-based creative organizations to produce a report called Brave New World? Justice for Creators in the Age of Generative AI.
Digital Camera World reports that the five organizations met in London this week to lobby the British parliament into action. The AOP, along with the Society of Musicians, the Society of Authors, Equity, and the Association of Illustrators, calls generative AI “the greatest act of theft in modern history”.
“The destruction we’re witnessing is digital — silent, invisible and global,” the AOP says in a press release. “Shrinking incomes, a marketplace shifting under pressure, widespread theft of intellectual property, the transfer of that IP value to overseas monopolies, and digital replication that puts style and identity itself at stake.”
Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.
