Is Shutterstock Headed Toward Eliminating Creators?

A reader wrote recently that he believes Shutterstock’s efforts to add huge quantities of image to its collection, as I discussed in recent article, is a “calculated plan” to eventually eliminate the need for photographers. He believes that by “feeding these images into their AI machines they will be able to learn exactly what their customers want.” Then, it is his contention, that Shutterstock will be able to “deliver custom made images (which Shutterstock would create) to clients.” He argues that ”this would just be machine work and there would no longer be a need for image makers or even computer graphic designers.”