# Freepik Enters the AI Image Generation Arena with ‘Open’ Model Trained on Licensed Data

## Freepik Enters the AI Image Generation Arena with ‘Open’ Model Trained on Licensed Data

Freepik, the popular online graphic design platform, has announced the release of its new AI image generator, F Lite. The company emphasizes that this “open” model was trained exclusively on commercially licensed and “safe-for-work” images, a move that directly addresses growing concerns around copyright and ethical data usage in the generative AI space.

F Lite, developed in partnership with AI startup Fal.ai, boasts approximately 10 billion parameters, the internal components that define the model’s capabilities. According to Freepik, the model’s training involved 64 Nvidia H100 GPUs and spanned two months. This significant investment underscores the company’s commitment to building a robust and legally sound AI image generation tool.

The release of F Lite places Freepik among a growing, yet still small, group of companies committed to training their generative AI models on licensed data. This approach contrasts sharply with the common practice of scraping vast amounts of data, including copyrighted material, from the internet, a strategy that has landed companies like OpenAI and Midjourney in legal hot water. These companies often invoke the “fair use” doctrine as a defense, but many creators and IP rights holders vehemently disagree, arguing for proper compensation.

Freepik is offering two versions of F Lite: a standard model and a “texture” model. The standard model prioritizes predictability and faithfulness to the user’s prompt. In contrast, the texture version aims for more creative and texturally rich outputs, even if it comes at the cost of occasional errors. Both models were trained on an internal dataset of around 80 million images.

A sample image generated by the standard model, prompted with “A person standing in front of a sunset, in majestic surroundings,” demonstrates the model’s capabilities. While Freepik doesn’t claim F Lite surpasses the image quality of industry leaders like Midjourney or Black Forest Labs’ Flux family, their focus is on creating an openly available model that developers can tailor and improve.

However, running F Lite isn’t for everyone. The model requires a high-end GPU with at least 24GB of VRAM, putting it beyond the reach of casual users.

Freepik joins companies like Adobe, Bria, Getty Images, Moonvalley, and Shutterstock in developing media-generating models trained on licensed data. As the legal landscape surrounding AI copyright continues to evolve, this approach may prove to be a critical differentiator, potentially opening up significant market opportunities.