Getty Images files lawsuit against Stability AI for alleged copyright infringement on Stable Diffusion
Getty Images is suing Stability AI, the creators of the well-known AI art software Stable Diffusion, for alleged copyright infringement.
According to their press statement: “Getty Images commenced legal proceedings in the High Court of Justice in London against Stability AI, claiming Stability AI infringed intellectual property rights, including copyright in content owned or represented by Getty Images.”
Interestingly in an interview stated in their last article at The Verge, Getty Images CEO Craig Peters said that the company had issued a “letter before action” — a formal notification of impending litigation in the UK to Stability AI. Read the full coverage here at The Verge with some more insights.
The press statement further declares: “It is Getty Images' position that Stability AI unlawfully copied and processed millions of images protected by copyright and the associated metadata owned or represented by Getty Images absent a license to benefit Stability AI's commercial interests and to the detriment of the content creators.”
Getty Images explicitly mentions in its press release that they are not against artificial intelligence and agree on the potential to stimulate creative endeavors. Back in October 2022, they even announced a partnership with BRIA to develop new AI Photo Tools. But they clearly want to have a system in place where the creators and agencies get paid by anyone who trains an AI with their intellectual property. They note that Stability AI did not seek any such license from Getty Images, and also ignored other viable license options.
It will be very interesting to see the reaction of Stability AI, and their product Stable Diffusion, to this allegation. The outcome of it could define a new chapter in the stock photo industry, with clear definitions of how creators and agencies should get paid if images are used in the training of any AI. Other stock agencies, such as Shutterstock, created a creator's fund to compensate their contributors for using their images for AI training with LG or even Meta and created their own AI Image Generating Tool with OpenAI. Many stock agencies have started to accept AI-generated images from Contributors such as Adobe Stock, Dreamstime, and PantherMedia.
What is your opinion on this news, and how do you anticipate the stock image industry will respond?
Image Copyright by stockphotos.com
