What’s the difference between fair use and copyright infringement? Who should be compensated and how? These are the questions at the center of the polarizing debate on AI image generators like Jasper Art. Because these generators are trained on existing images, many argue that the resulting AI images cross the line in terms of copyright.
For this reason, many are against AI image creation tools altogether. Others are not 100% opposed but believe the creators of the original work should receive royalties. In fact, two of the top image providers—Getty Images and Shutterstock—have taken these positions.
Where do Getty Images and Shutterstock stand?
Out of the two, Getty’s stance has been the most firm. Their CEO, Craig Peters, is quoted as saying: “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 area…