Getty Images bans AI-generated art amid copyright concerns

Getty Images has banned the sale of AI generative artwork created using image synthesis models such as Stable Diffusion, DALL-E 2, and Midjourney through the service.

Craig Peters, CEO of Getty Images, said: Interview with The Verge.

Getty Images isn’t the only company making this move. Smaller art community sites such as Newgrounds, PurplePort, and FurAffinity have also banned image compositing through September. AI-generated works exist in these small communities and threaten to overwhelm artwork created without these tools.

Shutterstock, one of Getty Images’ competitors, restricts searches for some AI content, but has yet to introduce material bans. Other platforms have removed AI images for reasons other than customer protection. His FurAffinity on the social art site says he has banned AI artwork because it detracts from human artists’ work.

Getty Images has banned the sale of AI-generated artwork due to copyright issues, but its ability to copyright this type of art has not yet been tested in court. Additionally, the ethics of using an artist’s work without their consent to train a neural network that creates near-human-level artwork is an open issue currently being debated on social media.

To protect its brand and customers, Getty Images has decided to avoid this issue entirely.

But removing AI content is easier said than done, according to The Verge’s report. Peters said Getty Images relies on its users to identify and report such images and is working with the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) to create filters. However, no fully reliable automated filter exists, and it’s unclear how easily Getty Images will be able to enforce its new ban.

In fact, a search for “AI-generated art” on the site last week directed customers to content for sale.