Shutterstock will soon offer licensed DALL-E 2 images that show what the future of Generative AI could look like

Shutterstock, the web’s leading provider of stock images, says it will add AI-generated images powered by OpenAI’s DALL-E 2 generative search engine.

The announcement is an extension of an existing relationship formed between the two companies last year. OpenAI said it trained its DALL-E system using Shutterstock data, with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman adding that the data is critical to training DALL-E.

The DALL-E integration is expected to roll out on Shutterstock’s website in the coming months, which the company says will “improve creative workflows.”

“We’re excited that Shutterstock will be one of the first to offer its customers DALL-E images through our API, and we look forward to future collaborations as artificial intelligence becomes an integral part of artists’ creative workflows,” said Altman a statement.

Shutterstock’s approach can also be a preview of how contributing photographers who inspire these AI models will be compensated. The company said it would provide compensation and royalties to artists whose work contributed to the development of AI models if their intellectual property is used, but didn’t provide any additional details.

AI models for generative art are trained using scrap internet data, in this case images. While some analysts have argued that these systems use this data fairly, others have argued that AI search engines violate copyrights.

Although generative image search engines are gaining popularity among AI evangelists, they are closed to the public, with very few commercial applications to date. For example, until the partnership was formed, a company or individual could not simply “license” a DALL-E 2 image. Partnering with giant image agencies like Shutterstock can be key to creating a sustainable business model around the emerging technology.

However, not every stock image website is eager to hop on the generative AI train. Immediately after Shutterstock’s announcement, competitor Getty Images said it would work with AI company BRIA to develop “responsible AI” tools that focus on image manipulation, but not generation.

In an interview with The Verge, Getty Images CEO Craig Peters expressed concerns about the legal risks associated with the technology.

“There are a lot of questions right now — about who owns the copyright to this material, the rights that were used to create this material — and we don’t want to put our clients in that legal risk area,” he tells The Verge. “There have been claims that certain platforms own copyright x,y,z, but I don’t think those questions have been answered.”

Shutterstock currently has AI-powered capabilities built into its platform after acquiring three companies, Pattern89, Datasine, and Shotzr. These tools are mainly designed to assist users in image selection. Its catalog contains over 200 million royalty-free stock images and other graphics, as well as video clips and royalty-free music available for licensing.