Where To Sell AI Art? — Part 1. Stock Image Sites
If you have spent some time with AI image-generation tools, you probably already know that AI art can actually be extremely time-consuming, especially when you strive for perfection. So, one day or another, you start to wonder — may I sell these images?
To help you answer this question, I’ve researched how the largest stock image sites deal with AI-generated content. Here’s what I’ve got.
Shutterstock
Shutterstock has taken a very interesting approach to AI-generated content, which probably reflects that this platform focuses on visual content rather than art. So, they provided their huge image database to OpenAI & LG to train AI-generating tools. Now, they suggest that customers generate images using Shutterstock’s own AI-generating platform — and then, pay for these images, while artists who provided their content for training the corresponding models, we’ll be compensated.
Yes, you create an image and you pay for it.
Okay, let’s say it can be fine because, after all, DALL-E 2 and Midjourney also charge you for using their AI models and computer resources. But there is a huge difference. You own the images you generate with Midjourney and DALL-E 2 as a paid customer. And when you generate with Shutterstock, the image is owned by Shutterstock: