Study Analyzes 6 Million Pixiv AI Images

Formal_Drop526 · reddit · 2026-07-14

A new study titled "Navigating the Open-Source Model Ecosystem" analyzes 6 million AI-tagged images on Pixiv, revealing the true workflow habits of AI art creators. - **Highly Concentrated Model Usage**: Despite over 22,000 base models on the platform, just 560 models account for 80% of image generations. - **LoRA as Standard**: By 2025, 75% of images use at least one LoRA, and works using LoRAs generally receive more views and bookmarks. However, stacking 3-5 or more LoRAs yields diminishing returns and can even hurt reach. - **Shifting Preferences**: As new base models natively support character prompting, character LoRA usage is declining, with users shifting focus to style and concept LoRAs. - **Resistance to Version Upgrades**: Creators are highly hesitant to update model versions; 20 weeks after release, only 40% of images use the latest version, primarily because new versions often break existing LoRA compatibility or alter aesthetic styles. The research team has open-sourced the dataset, including prompts and metadata, on HuggingFace.

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