At re:Invent 2025, Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced a groundbreaking partnership with 123RF, the leading royalty-free stock media platform. This collaboration introduces new generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) capabilities designed to enhance video understanding and image retrieval. For small business owners who rely on high-quality media to market and explain their products, this development offers a promising enhancement to operational efficiency and creativity.
123RF boasts an impressive catalog of over 230 million assets and serves over 12.4 million users worldwide. By implementing Gen AI technology via AWS, the platform has achieved significant improvements in video descriptor accuracy and search relevancy. Initial testing on a sample of 5 million videos doubled the accuracy of content identification and streamlined the search process, allowing e-commerce clients to quickly find and pair the right media with their products. This directly increases the speed and volume of products you can list each day, improving your sales opportunities.
A major advantage of this technology is that it can provide accurate results even when traditional tagging methods are inadequate. For example, when a user starts a search for “green bags,” AI comprehensively analyzes the visual content and returns only relevant results, rather than unrelated content tagged with similar keywords. This improvement means small business owners, including managers of e-commerce sites and digital marketing companies, can spend less time sifting through irrelevant images and videos and focus more on strategic activities that drive business growth.
As Bernadine Michael, chief marketing officer at 123RF, said, the capabilities provided by AWS have transformed the company's operations, allowing marketing teams to launch campaigns 35% faster. “The real breakthrough is how Gen AI on AWS democratizes creativity across our global subscriber base,” she said, highlighting how designers and marketers can now instantly find the perfect asset, regardless of language or cultural background.
However, its benefits also extend to compliance and content verification. As copyright and licensing scrutiny increases, 123RF employs AI to automatically detect trademark logos and effectively flag branded content. This feature helps small business owners ensure that the visuals they use comply with licensing requirements, streamlining asset management workflows while mitigating potential legal risks.
Before implementing this AI technology, 123RF faced significant bottlenecks. It's a labor-intensive review process with 30 to 40 human reviewers evaluating approximately 3,000 images each day. After implementing Gen AI, the platform achieved an incredible 92% reduction in content review time, allowing customers to find creative assets in 90% less time and with increased accuracy.
Phoebe Liew, Chief Technology Officer at 123RF, explained how AI enhances content understanding: “Our AWS-powered AI technology can now ‘see’ images the same way humans do.” This advanced system can capture unique visual characteristics and match them with similar images, regardless of the descriptive language used. Small business owners can benefit from a more streamlined content acquisition process that eliminates duplication and better identifies potential copyright issues by analyzing actual visual elements rather than relying solely on keyword accuracy.
While the potential benefits of implementing such AI capabilities are appealing, small business owners also need to consider certain challenges. Implementing these advanced technologies requires upfront investment and may involve a learning curve. Additionally, companies must remain vigilant about the evolving legal and ethical considerations surrounding AI-generated content.
Additionally, small business owners must evaluate whether their existing digital infrastructure can support these new capabilities. Moving to an AI-powered platform may require staff upgrades and additional training to take advantage of the full potential of these tools.
AWS' investment aligns with a broader trend of increasing adoption of AI among startups. Their recent “Unlocking Ambitions” study revealed that 48% of startups have implemented AI solutions, and nearly a third are developing entirely new AI-driven products. As Mr. Hussein Mohd pointed out. Ali, AWS country manager for Malaysia, said such advances position the region as a growth hub for AI innovation, which could benefit small and medium-sized enterprises looking to compete on the global stage.
In light of these developments, small business owners should consider how integrating generative AI into their operations can increase efficiency and foster creative growth. As the landscape continues to evolve, leveraging cloud computing and AI technologies will enable businesses to innovate, reduce operational bottlenecks, and adapt more quickly to market demands.
To learn more about 123RF's new features and the technology behind it, read the original press release here.
Image via Google Gemini
