AI-generated images to be sold as stock photos through Shutterstock

By Caleb Clark October 25, 2022

Shutterstock — one of the most popular stock image websites — plans on selling AI-created images, according to reporting from Gizmodo.

Shutterstock will generate the images using DALLE-2, and the company claims it will compensate creators whose images are used to generate the images.

An astronaut on a horse generated by Dall-E-2 AI image generator. — Image used with permission by copyright holder

DALL-E 2 is one of the most popular AI art generators, and Shutterstock has an ongoing relationship with the AI’s developer, OpenAI. Shutterstock plans on moving forward with monetizing AI artwork, even while conversations are ongoing about the legality of the practice. Shutterstock believes it has the solution, though. The company will establish a “Contributor Fund” to pay contributors when their images are used by DALL-E 2.

However, selling AI-generated images is far from a consensus, especially in the stock image market. The CEO of Getty Images, Craig Peters, recently aired his concerns in an interview with The Verge.

“There’s a lot of questions out there right now — about who owns the copyright to that material, about the rights that were leveraged to create that material — and we don’t want to put our customers into that legal risk,” he said. Peters also expressed concerns about the company’s competitors racing to monetize AI images, and he emphasized a need to answer questions about copyright and how to properly attribute and pay creators.

“I think the fact that these questions are not being addressed is the issue here,” he said. “In some cases, they’re just being thrown to the wayside. I think that’s dangerous. I don’t think it’s responsible. I think it could be illegal.”

AI-generated art has gained a lot of attention lately (for better and worse). Apps like Midjourney make the technology available to everyday people, and even Microsoft is throwing its weight behind the tech. Shutterstock is confident it has the solution, though, and you could get direct access to these DALLE-2 images within the next few months.

Topics

Tech News

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Caleb Clark is a full-time writer that primarily covers consumer tech and gaming. He also writes frequently on Medium about…

Computing

AMD may lose a golden opportunity to beat Nvidia this year

A year and a half after the launch of RDNA 3, AMD's graphics card lineup has grown a little stagnant -- as has Nvidia's. We're all waiting for a new generation, and according to previous leaks, AMD was getting ready to release RDNA 4 later this year. Except that now, we're hearing that it might not happen until CES 2025, which is still six months away.

Launching the new GPUs in the first quarter of 2025 is a decision that could easily backfire, and it's never been more important for AMD to get the timing right. In fact, if AMD really decides to wait until January 2025 to unveil RDNA 4, it'll miss out on a huge opportunity to beat Nvidia.
There's never been a better time
Who's a PC hardware enthusiast's best friend during the period between one generation of GPUs and the next? Various leakers, of course. Without them, we'd be kept in the dark for months on end.

Computing

My Steam library (probably) looks better than yours

A Steam library filled with custom artwork.

I don't mean to brag, but my Steam library is looking pretty good these days. No, it's not the number of games I own, my Steam level showing how much money I've throw into the digital void, or a string of Counter-Strike 2 skins that I hold like securities. My Steam library looks good because I spent just a little bit of time tweaking the artwork for games that I have installed.

You might already know that Steam allows you to set custom artwork for your games. Hover over any game in your library, right-click, and follow Manage > Set custom artwork to apply just about anything to the grid, hero, and icon images of your Steam library. Even with a few dozen games -- most PC gamers I know have a library in the hundreds -- it could take you hours doing this for every game in your library as you hunt down artwork, organize it on your PC, and set it within Steam.

Computing

How to insert a text box in Google Docs

Text box in Google Docs on a laptop.

Maybe you’re trying to make text more prominent in your document or want a uniform appearance for certain portions of content. Unlike Microsoft Word, Google Docs doesn’t currently provide a built-in text box feature, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be done.

We’ll show you a few ways to insert a text box in Google Docs. Each has its pros and cons, which we’ll also explain, so that you can use the best option for your document.