Shutterstock introduces its OpenAI-Based AI Toolkit for ethical AI generation
Shutterstock, the stock photo and media giant, has announced the launch of a new generative AI toolkit that allows customers of its Creative Flow online design platform to create images based on text prompts, using OpenAI's Dall-E 2 artificial intelligence image-generating platform. This launch comes after Shutterstock and OpenAI announced a partnership to help develop Dall-E 2 with Shutterstock libraries to train and feed the algorithm.
The way it works is quite simple, and not very different to what we have already seen in tools like Stable Diffusion or Midjourney. You simply go to their page and type the keywords of what you want to get in the search bar and the tool will show you four different images after pushing the “Generate” button. Then, you can choose one of the images to download and license to use in case you liked it. Each of these equals one download from Shutterstock's subscription plans or image packs. In the case of Flex subscriptions, one AI image equals one credit. As part of Shutterstock's trial package, you can download up to 10 AI-generated images from the service.
The new toolkit, which doesn't have its own brand name since it's currently integrated into the Shutterstock Creative Flow platform, can be used in every single language that the main Shutterstock service already offers. But its most attractive feature would probably be that the images generated are “ethically created visuals ready for licensing” right after they're made. Just keep in mind that each image will have a disclaimer stating it was generated by an AI tool. This could be taken as a significant statement, considering that we recently learned that Getty Images, one of Shutterstock's main competitors, is involved in a lawsuit against Stability AI over the use of its proprietary images to train their AI Image Generation Tool Stable Diffusion without permission from Getty.
In this case, Shutterstock seems to be betting on an early integration of the main AI tools and new technologies within its business model, instead of letting it be cannibalized by them. While it promises to at least look for possible solutions to some of the main concerns that have already been evidenced with the popularity of these tools, such as the allegations of copyright infringements from which hundreds of artists are being affected. Shutterstock promises to address these issues by making exclusive use of the resources that already exist on its platform to generate the AI content, while also making sure that the artists whose images have been used to feed this content are recognized in a monetary way. So far, no other company has established a policy to pay artists directly, so we could consider this a step forward, although the percentage is probably not similar to what they would see with the traditional model.
Along with this new integration and their recent deals with Meta and LG, we can expect the popularization of these technologies not only in Shutterstock, but pretty much in most of the big commercial names from media stock services, and the way those operate. This, in theory, would allow even greater customization within them.
In the words of Paul Hennesy, CEO of Shutterstock: “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.”
What parameters will really be the ones that make us choose one service or another? Well, that's up to us consumers to decide, and of course, at AlternativeTo we will always be looking for the best options that suit your needs and help you in that process.
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