If you are wondering why it is such a stark title, the reality is Getty Images has just released new tools that can easily replace your efforts. I am not making this up. According to the press release by Getty Images, the company has two new generative AI tools, which allow “users to generate professional‑grade product imagery and creative visuals with unparalleled control and precision, saving time and costs in their marketing and advertising.” Of course, the users range from small businesses to multi-billion dollar companies, which leaves us wondering: where will commercial photographers go?
What The Heck Are These Tools?
The two features, which are now available on Generative AI by Getty Images and Generative AI by iStock, are called Product Placement and Reference Image. Simply put, the features enable one to upload your product images, which will then generate a backdrop of your choice. It will also use “lighting and shadows, ensuring ultra‑realistic results that stay true to the original product.” If you can’t read between the lines, let me tell you: Getty Images states they no longer want photographers to have a steady income. In fact, they genuinely want billion-dollar businesses to accumulate more wealth and wring you dry. At least, it’s easy to feel that way.
If you think this is bad, wait for the next part: you can upload reference images too.
“Customers can also upload reference images to control color palettes and compositions, aligning generated visuals with specific brand guidelines or mood boards for a cohesive, on‑brand look.”
Getty Images
Again, if you read between the lines, it means AI will also steal your hard work while you get zero credit or compensation. So, how do you show your work or market yourself? I believe the best way would be to make prints. If you have already uploaded your work on your website or Instagram, it’s safe to say Getty Images AI or someone who doesn’t think pay people for their skills will scrape it off.
According to Grant Farhall, Chief Product Officer of Getty Images, this tool will “empower” businesses and will also give “unprecedented control” over their content. The press release further adds that users can leverage “generative AI to help expand the imagination with even more control, accuracy, and quality.” The saddest part is that throughout the press release, they emphasize creative control, time, and speed, each of which has been followed by ages. But from the looks of it, it seems now we will be bombarded with half-baked, sleazy campaigns that have zero input from people who are actually creating the work. What you will certainly see is that a bunch of marketing heads, finance dude bros, and boomers who think ‘100% profit is the way to go’ will use the tool to feed you crap. Audiences will now be bombarded with some really terribly made artworks,
What Should Be Done Now?
The best way would be to call them out. However, I am not sure how much of that would work. In the past, Getty Images has been accused of reducing royalty rates for photographers and even removing rights-managed images from their websites. At a point, before the advent of digital cameras, stock photography was one of the leading ways to make money. But the democratization, microstock, and a general lack of understanding of the genre have ruined it. Now, stock photographers make 20-25% of the income. With Getty Images taking over businesses like Unsplash, things become more forlorn.
This is why Getty Images, which is now coming after commercial photography, is so problematic. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, a photographer, including commercial photographers, earns $25.67 per hour or $53,380 per year. A Photo Editor spoke to a commercial photographer in his 50s, and he stated things have been difficult lately. “My income used to touch the $1,000,000 mark every couple years, but now I barely cross the $500,000 threshold,” the anonymous photographer said.
Now, if you add generative AI to the mix, the water becomes murkier. That is exactly why companies like Getty Images (and even Adobe) should be called out and forced to shut down these projects. Otherwise, you can hold them in court, which the company is already afraid of. The way to get around this is that the customized background still requires human-created inputs to help it achieve better results. So, they will plagiarize your work without your consent or compensation. It is a matter of when. In the end, letting companies like Getty Images escape is the making of a disaster and perpetuates the power gap.