OpenAI, the company behind DALL-E 2, this week canceled its Invitation-Only Barrier for AI Image Generation Tool,Opening the ever-growing platform to anyone interested in using it.
So far, about 1.5 million users have used DALL-E from realistic faces and in user input string descriptions These are painting renderings of characters and scenes that don’t exist before sex cues are used to guide the AI’s output. Every AI image generator starts with free access and has pricing based on usage.
In a short time, many users have started using DALL-E and similar tools, including Midjourney and Steady proliferation to flooding stock photo sites with new content, hoping to profit from fees paid to creators who sell images photo.
But if AI software users don’t draw, paint, or take images, do they have it? Or does the company behind the software own it?
Midjourney and DALL-E have different ownership rules
Even the AI generator site disagrees at this point. Midjourney’s terms of service state that “you own all assets created using [Midjourney]”, with the caveat that the user grants the company a broad license to use not only AI – the user generated image, but the user’s text prompt is used to generate the image.
DALL-E’s term, on the other hand, asserts that “OpenAI owns all generations” created on the platform, and Users are only granted rights to use and copyright their AI-generated images.
Users have profited from AI generated images
Midjourney’s user-friendly terms help AI image makers like Kristina Kashtanova, who have succeeded for others AI User Set Copyright An AI-generated graphic novel named Zarya of Dawn September 15.
Under Midjourney terms, Kashtanova fully owns the work.
But if a user of DALL-E violates OpenAI’s terms or Content Policy, the company says “You will lose the right to use [Artificial intelligence-generated image].”
This may seem simple, but it’s an exception to the way other popular digital art tools are managed. Serious artists might avoid Photoshop, for example, if it means Adobe has the right to own or Undo the work they made in the app.
Getty and Shutterstock did not agree on what to do with AI images
The rules are equally variable on different stock image sites. Getty Images has banned AI-generated images from its service. Shutterstock has a similar ban, but recently reversed course and now allows anyone to upload and monetize their AI-generated images.
Digital artist finds rules changing fast
Kashtanova tells Quartz , an image she owned was initially deemed problematic by Shutterstock, but was suddenly allowed back on the platform.
“My [Shutterstock] images were 100% generated using Midjourney. They were deleted and then restored after five hours,” she said.
The first message Shutterstock sent to Kashtanova told her that Shutterstock “does not accept machine-generated content,” warning her that “while the AI-generated content space continues to evolve rapidly, But currently machine-generated content has multiple copyright-related implications and is not in compliance with our Contributor Terms of Service.”
Hours later, Shutterstock told Kashtanova “The AI-generated content removed from your portfolio has been restored.”
We asked Shutterstock to clarify its policy. “Our current position is that we accept AI-generated content into the platform for commercial and editorial use,” a company spokesperson told us.
“Currently, the review of AI-generated content is no different than any other type of digital illustration submission… As we learn more about synthetic images, this may will change immediately.”
