Who Owns AI Art? Getty Images And Stability AI Clash Over IP Rights

AI can feel downright smart and magical. It can teach you many things on the fly, pull up information, and even generate images. However, behind all that smarts is data used to train these AI models. But where these AI companies get their data from is sometimes questionable. This is why Getty Images is taking Stability AI to court.

For those unfamiliar, Getty Images is a company that provides stock photos (among other things) to other companies that might use them for magazines, newspapers, or websites. It is a paid service, which means that these photos aren’t free to use for anyone. Now, in a landmark copyright lawsuit filed against Stability AI, Getty Images claims that the AI company used its photos to train its Stable Diffusion system.

The company calls Stability AI’s use of its photos a “brazen infringement.” This isn’t the first time that Getty Images has called out Stability AI. In 2023, Getty CEO Craig Peters told The Associated Press, “What Stability did was inappropriate.” Getty’s trial lawyer, Lindsay Lane, said, “The problem is when AI companies such as Stability AI want to use those works without payment.”

However, Stability AI counters that Getty is only suing them because it felt that they were “an existential threat” to its business. Getty disputes this assertion, saying that it is about upholding intellectual property rights and that both industries can still exist in “synergistic harmony.”

AI companies “stealing” works

This isn’t the first time an AI has been called out for using the works of others without permission. Ziff Davis, the publisher behind popular websites such as IGN, PCMag, and Mashable, filed a lawsuit against OpenAI. It claimed that OpenAI had used the articles published on its websites to train its AI models.

Photographers have also found that AI image generators, such as Midjourney, have used their photographs without their permission.

To make matters worse and more confusing, it seems that AI companies are selective about who they are willing to pay and who they aren’t. For instance, Amazon inked a deal with the New York Times for AI training. OpenAI also landed deals with other publishers such as The Associated Press, The Atlantic, The Financial Times, and Vox Media, but conveniently chose to ignore Ziff Davis.

If Getty wins its lawsuit against Stability, it would set a precedent for future cases.