Civitai
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Generative artificial intelligence, Digital marketplace |
| Founded | 2022 |
| Founder | Justin Maier |
| Headquarters | Boise , United States |
Area served | Global |
| Products | AI models for image synthesis, AI-generated images and videos, virtual currency (Buzz) |
Civitai serves as a digital marketplace and platform dedicated to generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) content, with a primary emphasis on AI-created images and videos.
History
Established in 2022 by Justin Maier, Civitai experienced rapid growth, reaching 100,000 users by January 2023 and expanding to 3 million by November of the same year. In November 2023, the company obtained investment from the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. By April 2024, the site recorded 23.2 million monthly visits. The organization is based in Boise, Idaho.
Platform
Civitai allows its community to both share and download AI models, particularly those geared toward image synthesis, including support for models such as Stable Diffusion and Flux. It provides content creators with avenues to monetize their AI-generated works. Users maintain personal profile pages and can interact through comment sections.
A proprietary virtual currency named Buzz is incorporated into the platform, which can be used to produce images on Civitai’s servers; Buzz is obtainable either by purchase or through active participation on the site. Additionally, Civitai operates as an open-source project.
Controversies
In 2023, Civitai introduced a "Bounties" feature where users could commission deepfake creations of real or fictional characters, compensating contributors with Buzz tokens. By December 2023, AI provider OctoML terminated its partnership with Civitai due to concerns regarding potentially unlawful content generated via the platform.