CivitAI

CivitAI

Like Hugging Face, CivitAI is a collaborative hub for AI development. But unlike Hugging Face which supports a large range of applications, CivitAI is dedicated to image generation only. The platform attracts a huge number of enthusiasts and amateurs. In contrast to the rather serious interface and atmosphere of Hugging Face (that looks more like GitHub), the platform resembles art platforms such as DeviantArt where users display their portfolios. With its labyrinth of image galleries, it celebrates the capabilities of generative AI to clone every style and cross every genre from cartoon to oil painting and fashion photography to extreme pornography, as if the users were on a mission to exhaust pixel space.

But the platform attracts more than image makers. Many Civitans also upload custom-made models, LoRAs, VAEs, highly detailed tutorials. A large population of anime fans is responsible for an endless list of models that specialize on a given manga character, as well as many versions of the infamous PONY models that started as a project to generate better images of the characters of My Little Pony and that has evolved in a complex constellation of models able to produce reliable body poses.[1] This makes CivitAI a bridge between fans and computer geeks (who are sometimes both) who enjoy the platform's very lax sense of moderation that unfortunately does little to prevent various forms of abuse.[2] These models are made available on the platform's own image generator as well as for download. The largest share of models are available for free, therefore finding their ways on desktops for private use and in peer-to-peer networks such as Stable Horde for communal production.

CivitAI has a large infrastructure at its disposal. As users train models, LoRAs and VAEs on the platform and generate impressive amounts of images, CivitAI needs capital investment. As a centralized service (in contrast to Stable Horde), it supports its operations through various commercial offers. Additionally, it raises eye boggling venture capital investment. In 2023, the company raised $5.1 million backed by the firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z).[3] All in all, the company exemplifies the tensions and paradoxes of an autonomous AI and its attachments. It does indeed serve the bottom-up production of models and add-ons as well as the 'democratization' of AI technology in a way that goes beyond mere consumer usage. But it does so by converting the labour of love of a large population of enthusiasts into capital. On the one hand, it makes possible a relative delinking from the dominant players of the market (such as OpenAI) and nourishes an ecosystem of small actors from amateurs to hackers. On the other, it does it at the condition of capital accumulation and complicity with the dark matter of American finance.

[1] PurpleSmartAI. “Pony Diffusion V6 XL.” CivitAI, March 6, 2025. https://civitai.com/models/257749/pony-diffusion-v6-xl.

[2] Wei, Yiluo, Yiming Zhu, Pan Hui, and Gareth Tyson. “Exploring the Use of Abusive Generative AI Models on Civitai.” 2024. https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.12876.

[3] Perez, Sarah. “Andreessen Horowitz Backs Civitai, a Generative AI Content Marketplace with Millions of Users.” TechCrunch, November 14, 2023. https://techcrunch.com/2023/11/14/andreessen-horowitz-backs-civitai-a-generative-ai-content-marketplace-with-millions-of-users/.