Shutterstock, a widely used stock picture service, has announced the introduction of AI.

You may now use the website’s text-to-image AI generator by selecting it from the Image menu. In response to user-provided textual cues, the AI will generate “larger-than-life, ethically crafted graphics appropriate for licencing,” as claimed by stock photo agency Shutterstock.

As the release approaches, artists and competing stock picture site Getty Images are preparing legal action against generative AI firm Stability AI.

New generative AI tool from Shutterstock is being praised for being user-friendly and available to everyone thanks to OpenAI’s backing.

Users may generate one-of-a-kind visuals in response to simple or complicated word or phrase prompts, but our testing revealed that the latter tend to provide the greatest results. The business stands by its stance that customers shouldn’t have to “learn how to create lengthy, complicated prompts to benefit from this technology,” even if the product is officially still in development.

After they have been made, users may modify them in any way they see fit using either a regular picture editor or the site’s Create tool, an image editor meant for folks with no prior familiarity with such programmes.

Shutterstock emphasises its potential application in content marketing efforts, targeting its primary demographic of companies and organisations. However, the company promises to use an ethical approach, likely in an effort to avoid allegations of copyright theft in light of the difficulties surrounding the use of AI in the arts.

The alternative to Adobe Stock will compensate artists for any contributions used to produce the photos, making it the first to embrace a “responsible AI-generation approach.”

This pledge is consistent with statements made by Shutterstock in October 2022, when the programme was initially announced, in which the company stated its goal to safeguard the intellectual property of the platform’s artists, photographers, and producers.

You don’t need to be a design professional or have access to a creative team to develop excellent work; our user-friendly generative platform will make that unnecessary. “We make sure the artists whose works contributed to the creation of these models are acknowledged and paid,” said Paul Hennessy, CEO of Shutterstock. “Our tools are founded on an ethical approach and on a collection of assets that reflects the varied world we live in.”