Compiled by the editorial desk with reference to official court filings, public statements, and expert commentary from legal professionals.

Getty Images, the world's leading stock photo provider, has taken legal action against Stability AI, the company behind the popular Stable Diffusion image generator, over the alleged unauthorized use of millions of its photos. The lawsuit, filed in a U.S. District Court in Delaware, accuses Stability AI of copying 12 million images from Getty's collection without permission or compensation.

The complaint, filed last week, alleges that Stability AI's actions constitute "brazen infringement" of Getty's intellectual property on a "staggering scale." Beyond the unauthorized copying, Getty claims that Stability AI removed or altered its copyright management information, provided false copyright information, and infringed on Getty's famous trademarks. Specifically, the suit points to the removal or alteration of Getty's watermark in many images generated by Stable Diffusion, which the company says is a violation of its rights.

Getty's legal move comes on the heels of a separate class-action lawsuit filed by a group of artists against Stability AI and other AI companies, including Midjourney, over the use of their work in training AI models. However, copyright lawyer Aaron Moss, who runs the Copyright Lately blog, noted that Getty's complaint is "much better" than the artists' class action, as it focuses on the core issue: the ingestion of copyrighted images during the training phase. "The focus is where it should be: the input stage ingestion of copyrighted images to train the data," Moss tweeted, adding that this will be a "fascinating fair use battle."

Getty's stance is not anti-AI, but rather pro-compensation. In a statement last month, Getty affirmed its belief in AI's potential to stimulate creative endeavors and noted that it has already licensed its images to other AI companies for training purposes. The company's lawsuit is specifically about not being paid for the use of its content.

Legal Experts Weigh In on Potential Impact

Moss told The Verge that the key detail in Getty's lawsuit is that "it wasn't paid for the use of its images." He also cautioned that the case could take years to resolve, given the backlog in the District Court. "It will likely take several years for the Getty Images case to get through discovery and summary judgment motions before trial," Moss said.

The outcome of this lawsuit could have significant implications for the AI industry, as it may set a precedent for how AI companies handle copyrighted material in their training datasets. With AI technology advancing rapidly and attracting substantial investment, the legal landscape is struggling to keep pace, making cases like this one critical for establishing boundaries.