Big Tech needs to get creative as it runs out of data to train its AI models. Here are some of its wildest solutions.

Big Tech is scouring the internet for new data sources to train its AI models.Gilnature/Getty Images

• OpenAI, Meta, Google, and other Big Tech firms train their AI models using online data.
• But AI models learn so fast that all that data could run out by 2026.

More is more when it comes to AI. The more data AI systems are trained on, the more powerful they will be.

But as the AI arms race heats up, tech giants like Meta, Google, and OpenAI face a problem: They're running out of data to train their models.

Many leading AI systems have been trained on the vast supply of online data. But by 2026, all the high-quality data could be exhausted, according to Epoch, an AI research institute.

So major tech companies are searching for new data sources to keep their systems learning. Here's a look at some of the most creative options that tech companies are considering.