Generative AI has been placed under a microscope after several lawsuits claim that companies are using copyrighted materials to train their AI models. However, that's not stopping tech giants like Getty Images from releasing their own AI image generator.
Getty Images AI Generator
The massive source of copyrighted images will soon allow its paying customers to generate images using text prompts much like all the other AI image generators. Unlike other services, there are policies in place that will make sure all the concerned parties will receive their due.
The photo agency is among the largest sources with over 135 million available images for licensing in its archives, which is a pretty big advantage for the site seeing as AI models used to generate images require these materials to train.
Luckily for people who have contributed to the site, they will receive the necessary compensation when their content is used to train the AI system, according to Ars Technica, which has been a major issue in the AI field as of late.
Getty Images CEO Craig Peters said that they "fundamentally believe in creatives' expertise," and that the investment they put into their content should be rewarded. He explained that the generative AI products will grow and "these will develop into material revenue streams."
This may be among the reasons why the company has filed copyright claims against Stability AI, other than the claim that they "unlawfully copied and processed millions of images protected by copyright." Getty Images might have just been preparing to use its own images to train its AI.
In addition to that, users will not have to worry about using the AI image generator for commercial purposes. The company says that there will be indemnification for the 800,000 subscribers who might want to use the product.
That means that whenever a customer gets in trouble for using the AI-generated images created using the Getty Images generator, the company will swoop in to save the day as they protect the user from potential copyright issues.
The new feature is made possible by the company's partnership with Nvidia. As for AI images getting mixed up in the library of human-made content, Peters assured that the AI-generated images from customers will not be added to the platform's libraries.
Microsoft Has the Same Protective Policy
As the software giant released Copilot AI, it says that commercial users will also be protected in the event that they are used for the generated content. Microsoft will take legal responsibility in copyright infringement cases concerning its new AI tool.
Microsoft Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith that the initiative called the Copilot Copyright Commitment will be an extension of its overall AI customer commitments, as reported by The Verge, so it looks like customers can freely use its AI tools without worry.
The company says that they are providing legal aid as it wants to support customers using its services, it understands the concerns of those who file copyright claims, and it has built guardrails against potentially using copyrighted materials.
