Buyers are skipping AI-made 3D models even as online marketplace listings surge

CGTrader is being flooded with AI-generated 3D assets, but those listings are not attracting much buyer spending.

Marketplace data points to a sharp rise in AI-made uploads, even as revenue from them stays minimal, according to 404 Media.

Here's what to know

Although AI-generated items now make up one out of every six new 3D model uploads on CGTrader, the company says they account for only about $1 of every $90 earned on the platform.

Founded in 2011, CGTrader hosts more than 2 million models for games, videos, and 3D-printing projects. Its 2026 market trends report draws on buyer surveys and marketplace data collected from June 2025 through May 2026.

In a press release, CGTrader said, "Buyers are voting with their wallets, and AI-generated content is struggling to compete."

The company said the mismatch between growing supply and weaker demand runs counter to the idea that AI-made assets are already pushing prices down across the market.

The buyer survey suggests performance is the bigger issue. For people shopping for 3D-printing files, dependable results mattered more than low prices, and only 4% said AI "works well." Across the broader survey, 20% said AI assets were not good enough, 7% said they were usable only with heavy editing, and 5% said they worked well.

More background

For human creators, standing out online is getting harder as generative AI floods platforms with inexpensive content for images, music, and video.

A similar concern is surfacing in 3D marketplaces.

3D artist Alexander Spivak said he is not anti-AI, but "as an artist, I haven't yet found a way to seamlessly collaborate with AI."

AI tools can help businesses move faster and may even support the energy transition by improving grid forecasting, balancing renewable power, and optimizing clean energy systems. At the same time, AI systems can use large amounts of electricity and water, increase operating costs, introduce security and misuse risks, and contribute to broader unintended consequences such as rising energy bills if pressure on the grid continues to grow.

If AI-made models are cheaper to create but less dependable, shoppers may end up spending more time sorting through poor-quality listings, fixing broken files, or paying again for better assets from experienced creators.

What's being done?

CGTrader is not responding by shutting AI out. Before publishing the report, the company announced a partnership with Tencent on an AI-powered 3D workflow intended to help creators refine topology and textures, split parts, create variations, and prepare models for production.

Lašaitė said the point is to use AI as assistance, not simply to add more machine-made listings. "AI can accelerate the more mechanical parts of the process, while the designer retains creative direction and control over the final result."

The company also says it wants to prevent upload volume from swamping the marketplace. Lašaitė said AI submissions are rising faster than AI purchases, a trend that could make human creators harder to discover unless search and ranking tools improve as well.

For now, CGTrader says discovery should lean on quality and performance signals instead of sheer volume, such as sales outcomes, buyer ratings, and other evidence that a model delivers what it promises.

CGTrader framed the broader message this way: "The upload numbers alone would suggest a takeover. The revenue numbers say otherwise, and buyers refusing to pay for AI-generated models is saying something bigger than no thanks: it is a signal of how far they trust AI generation itself."

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