US photo agency Getty Images threatened on Tuesday to sue software publisher Stability AI, which used its photos to train artificial intelligence that generates images. Getty distributes news and illustrative photos, including AFP images.
“Stability AI has illegally copied ‘on the Internet’ and reprocessed millions of copyrighted images,” Getty said in a statement. The company did not seek a license tailored to Getty’s AI training, while it exists, the photo agency lamented.
Stability AI is the author of Stable Diffusion, an artificial intelligence that allows you to generate images in a certain style or inspiration from a simple text.
It is part of the same family of artificial intelligences as 2 of the start-up OpenAI, a social media star last year for its ability to generate a wide variety of images on demand. Stability AI, like Dall-E 2, are so-called “generative” artificial intelligences, which produce new images thanks to those presented to them by their author in the training phase.
AI stability already featured
Getty Images said it had already begun the first legal steps to take the case to the High Court in London. Stability AI is already the subject of a class action lawsuit launched in the United States by three artists who also accuse it of violating their reproduction rights.
Artificial intelligences using large amounts of text or images on the Internet to train themselves pose an unprecedented legal problem. Is this a legitimate use of publicly displayed content, as the designers of artificial intelligence defend, or a violation of the intellectual property rights of the owners of these texts and images?
Stability AI did not respond to AFP’s requests.
Source: BFM TV
