Stock image platform Shutterstock has launched an AI image generator with a focus on ethical practices.
Many text-to-image generators have serious allegations over their practices. Earlier this month, AI News reported that Getty Images has filed a lawsuit against Stable Diffusion creator Stability AI over alleged copyright infringement.
In an independent analysis of 12 million of the 2.3 billion images used to train Stable Diffusion, it was found to use a large number of images from stock image websites and platforms with high amounts of user-generated content like WordPress, DeviantArt, and Tumblr.
Many human artists have expressed concern about text-to-image generators harming their livelihoods. Understandably, they view it as an even bigger blow when their work is used – without compensation or credit – to train the generators.
Shutterstock claims its AI image generator is trained using assets that represent the diversity of the world we live in. The company says that it’s recognising the contributions of human artists by paying them royalties.
Paul Hennessy, CEO at Shutterstock, commented:
“Shutterstock has developed strategic partnerships over the past two years with key industry players like OpenAI, Meta, and LG AI Research to fuel their generative AI research efforts, and we are now able to uniquely bring responsibly-produced generative AI capabilities to our own customers.
Our easy-to-use generative platform will transform the way people tell their stories — you no longer have to be a design expert or have access to a creative team to create exceptional work.
Our tools are built on an ethical approach and on a library of assets that represents the diverse world we live in, and we ensure that the artists whose works contributed to the development of these models are recognised and rewarded.”
Shutterstock’s generator aims to be a “one-stop-shop” for creating images. Over 20 languages are supported and images can be created from just a single word and customised using a style picker.
You can get started with Shutterstock’s image generation platform here.
(Image Credit: Shutterstock)
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