OpenAI, the leading artificial intelligence (AI) company behind innovations like ChatGPT, has announced an extension of its partnership with Shutterstock, the popular stock image site. The six-year agreement grants OpenAI access to Shutterstock’s extensive library of images, videos, music, and metadata, allowing the AI company to leverage this rich content in training its models.
The collaboration between Shutterstock and OpenAI was initially established in 2021 when Shutterstock granted OpenAI permission to use its vast collection of images for training DALL-E, an advanced text-to-image model. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman praised the partnership, emphasizing its critical role in the training of DALL-E. As part of the arrangement, Shutterstock launched a “Contributor Fund” last year to compensate artists whose work was used in OpenAI’s model training.
Notably, Shutterstock had integrated OpenAI’s image generator directly into its platform, prohibiting the sale of AI-generated images that were not created using the platform’s built-in DALL-E tool. However, Shutterstock is now expanding this integration to offer users the ability to edit and transform any image in its extensive library. The company also has plans to introduce AI features to Giphy, the popular GIF-making platform it acquired from Meta earlier this year.
Brad Lightcap, the Chief Operating Officer of OpenAI, expressed his satisfaction with the extended collaboration, stating, “This extended collaboration not only enhances the capabilities of our image models but also empowers brands, digital media, and marketing companies to unlock transformative possibilities in content creation and ideation.”
While some image-sharing platforms, such as Getty Images, have taken a cautious approach to AI integration, Shutterstock has embraced it fully. Concerns have been raised by artists regarding their work being used to train AI models without proper recognition or compensation. Getty Images addressed these concerns by banning AI-generated content entirely and even filing a lawsuit against Stability AI, the company behind the AI art tool Stable Diffusion, alleging copyright infringement.
Shutterstock’s continued partnership with OpenAI opens the door for its library to expand further through integration with DALL-E. However, it also raises questions about the legal implications surrounding AI-generated content.
As the partnership enters this new phase, it will be interesting to observe how Shutterstock balances the advantages of AI technology with the need to address potential legal challenges, all while striving to enhance its service offerings and meet the evolving needs of its user base.
