Thursday, April 17, 2025, Huntington Beach, CA – A plethora of creative agencies have joined forces with inclusive global stock imagery company pocstock to combat Generative AI’s perpetuation of harmful stereotypes, particularly those affecting marginalized demographics.
Newark, N.J.-based pocstock has spent the last two years developing a global, multicultural-focused dataset for AI. Since many datasets lack a focus on cultural nuances and representation across different communities worldwide, the unified, collaborative partnership between pocstock and the ad agencies will accurately capture unrepresented communities and re-educate AI.
Called “Breaking Bias,” the unified effort is continuing to attract agencies to host photo shoots and unleash culturally accurate images into the ecosystem. The images will be accessible to AI companies, including industry leaders like Adobe, Amazon, Canva, Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Shutterstock.
Creative agency INNOCEAN USA has been a marquee player helping to lead the effort. “One of the myths we often hear is that Black people don’t swim — much less surf,” said David Mesfin, VP and creative director at INNOCEAN USA, who also founded the program. “While working on my documentary about Black surfers, AI kept generating white surfers with darkened skin. It was evident this technology hadn’t been designed to represent us accurately. Recognizing the need to tackle AI’s bias, my teammates and I collaborated with more than a dozen agency partners to challenge AI’s bias and push for true representation.”
According to IBM, AI Bias refers to “AI systems that produce biased results that reflect and perpetuate human biases within a society, including historical and current social inequality.”
Today, more than 34 million AI images are generated each day, and by 2026, generative AI may produce up to 90% of online images. However, these models often replicate and amplify harmful stereotypes due to biased training data. Over time, this will compound societal misrepresentation, reinforcing exclusionary narratives.
One major source of bias is data collection. If the data used to train an AI algorithm is not diverse, the resulting outputs may be biased. For instance, Hispanic/Latino nurses comprise nearly 9.6% of the U.S. population but are represented in 0% of AI-generated images.
“We’re thankful for David’s vision and INNOCEAN USA’s propensity for action,” said DeSean Brown, co-founder and chief relationship officer at pocstock. “We’ve sought this level of interest and engagement from companies in developing authentic and inclusive images for AI training – the industry needed a pioneer like INNOCEAN USA to lead the way”.
Among the companies and communities captured and tagged to train AI on images that reflect the real world, thus far include:
| Company | Community Photographed |
| INNOCEAN USA | Black Surfers |
| Great Day in the Stoke | Black Surfers |
| Sofly Surf School | Black Surfers |
| Early Gibson | Black Surfers |
| Aquatic Future Foundation | Black Surfers |
| Kayla Taitt | Black Surfers |
| TrueGent.Tv | Hispanic skateboarders |
| Stan Evens | Snowboarder |
| Contrast Eye Films | Snowboarders |
| Native Like Water | Native Americans |
| Pedro On The World | Native Americans |
| ORCI | Older Hispanic LGBTQ Community |
| Lopez Negretti | Hispanic Musician |
All partners and agencies listed above have contributed their time and talent to the project, including Union, We are Royale, Dipping Sauce, APM, The Sideways Life, FCB Global, and David&Goliath.
“The level of global and cross-functional collaboration and inclusion is much needed and exciting in AI”, added Brown. “This is a joint effort among stock companies, advertisers, brands, content creators, and tech companies to work toward a common cause of making technology inclusive to everyone, everywhere. This opens tremendous possibilities for AI to be developed in a globally inclusive way.”
In addition to the nearly 96,000 images uploaded to pocstock’s inventory, the project’s Guidebook establishes a new, multi-industry standard for inclusive AI, empowering creatives, businesses, and tech developers to shape a future where AI accurately reflects the richness of human diversity.
“With the Guidebook to lead our work, we need more partners to join our fight,” said Mesfin. “Addressing bias requires a continuous feedback loop where AI models are regularly evaluated and updated based on real-world interactions and new data. Next, we’ll expand to showcase business leaders, entrepreneurs and professionals long overlooked in AI-generated imagery.”
Agencies or individuals interested in learning more about joining the Breaking Bias project can click here. [https://www.pocstock.com/inclusive-ai ]
ABOUT pocstock
Founded in 2019 by Steve Jones and DeSean Brown, pocstock is a global stock content company sitting at the intersection of advertising, artificial intelligence, and culture while building the largest, most inclusive library of images in the world featuring people of color and underrepresented communities. pocstock is a content and data partner with more than 1,200 companies including AAA, Adobe, Alamy, Audible, Bank of America, BRIA.ai, Canva, Envato, IPG Health, Google, Microsoft, Omnicom, Prudential, Samsung, and Uniworld Group.
ABOUT INNOCEAN USA
INNOCEAN USA is an independent, fully integrated creative advertising agency that leverages our Explorer mindset to find brands’ highest potential and drive their business. We go all in. It’s all we know. Current clients include Hyundai Motor America, Genesis Motor America, Hankook Tire, HOAG Medical Group, HYBE, Jinro, Kia Motors America, Korean Air, LG, Manscaped, NEXON, Signature Kitchen Suite, Supernal, TaylorMade Golf, Uneekor, Wienerschnitzel, and Xcient.
