A massive influx of AI-generated goods across digital marketplaces is running into a wall of consumer resistance, forcing platforms to confront the limits of automated production.<\/p>\n
Roughly a year ago, online 3D model marketplace CGTrader introduced the ability for designers to upload AI-generated assets for purchase on the platform, in addition to the digital models they rendered themselves. The site has more than two million 3D models for sale, which serve as the foundational component for architects, video producers, game designers, and other creatives to build their product around.<\/p>\n
But CGTrader may be a case study for how having more AI-generated products for sale does not guarantee the technology\u2019s popularity, and why buyers still favor human-made goods. A recent report from the company found that despite one in six models uploaded to its platform being AI-generated, those assets accounted for just $1 out of every $90 in generated revenue, and just 2.6% of sales.<\/p>\n
\u201cAI is entering the catalog rapidly, but buyers aren\u2019t yet opening their wallets for it,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n
The report, which drew data from marketplace sales between June 2025 and May 2026, noted that only 5% of CGTrader\u2019s customers tried an AI model and found it worked well, as compared to the 20% who tried it and found the assets inadequate.<\/p>\n
Unlike flat 2D imagery, professional 3D rendering demands strict mesh geometry, clean polygon topology, and precise rigging to function in video games or architectural software. Generative tools frequently struggle with these technical constraints, creating flawed assets that require labor-intensive manual corrections by human artists.<\/p>\n
CGTrader CEO Dalia Lasaite pinpointed the reason why the company\u2019s customers turned away from its AI offerings: It\u2019s not that they hate AI; it\u2019s just that they valued what humans had to offer more\u2014not least of all because humans simply make better stuff.<\/p>\n
\u201cBuyers are looking for really high quality when they are shopping at the marketplace,\u201d Lasaite told Fortune. \u201cAnd as a result, they tend to prefer human-created 3D models, at least at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n
As AI adoption increases, consumers\u2019 feelings toward the technology, particularly its application for creative uses, has become tangled. A 2025 Stanford University<\/a> study found that when participants were given access to an online marketplace with both AI-generated and human-produced art, they gravitated toward AI-generated pieces, with the number of generative AI images on the platform rapidly increasing. However, a Pew Research Center<\/a> poll last year found half of Americans said they liked a painting less after learning it was made by AI. In a report published on Tuesday, Pew found 52% of American adults were \u201cmore concerned than excited\u201d about greater AI use in data life, as compared to 38% who said the same thing in 2022.<\/p>\n But Dennis Zhang, a professor of marketing and supply Chain, operations, and technology at Washington University in St. Louis\u2019s Olin Business School, said more AI-generated products in marketplaces reflects more than just how people feel about AI right now; it also hints at the role AI could play in the economy more broadly.<\/p>\n \u201cOne side of economists always tells you, \u2018Don\u2019t worry about AI. For every technology revolution in human history, people re-pivot to something else to do,\u201d Zhang told Fortune. \u201cWhat we\u2019re saying is something else: It\u2019s not only people as workers will re-pivot to something else to do, it\u2019s also people as consumers will re-pivot to the dimension that humans will matter more.\u201d<\/p>\n The rise of AI in the marketplace<\/p>\n