Getty revises its demands upwards
Getty Images, a world leader in photography, is suing Stability AI for copyright infringement. The agency is now seeking up to $1.7 billion, up from $1 billion initially. This amount corresponds to damages of $150,000 for 11,383 works allegedly used without authorization, while the initial complaint concerned 7,300 images.
Getty actually suspects Stability AI of having exploited up to 12 million photos via the LAION dataset, an open-source database bringing together billions of images collected from the web. If this estimate were confirmed, the amount of damage could reach a staggering $1.8 trillion, which is starting to add up. Stability AI, for its part, says the accusations are unfounded and of course disputes all claims.
A wave of lawsuits in the AI industry
Stability AI is not alone in this situation. Other companies in the artificial intelligence sector also face similar lawsuits. Perplexity AI is, for example, accused by News Corp, while OpenAI and Microsoft are being sued by the New York Times. Stability is also targeted by a collective action by artists, who denounce the use of their works to train AI models, again via the LAION dataset.
The main issue in these cases is the absence of a clear legal framework on the use of protected content to develop artificial intelligence models. Precedents, such as that between Google and authors in 2005 (regarding the digitization of books), show that these disputes could extend over several years. You haven’t heard the last of it.
A complicated context for Stability AI
Stability AI, valued in 2022 as a unicorn after a fundraising of $101 million, is going through a difficult period. In two years, the company has experienced several major departures, including that of its founder Emad Mostaque in 2024. It also made layoffs and adjusted its business model.
Despite this, it raised an additional $50 million in June 2024, but has not communicated new funding since. The legal pressure therefore adds to a somewhat complex internal situation.
A long legal road
Getty Images calls data scraping practices pure and simple theft
. Stability AI maintains its position: according to it, no major financial risk weighs on the company at this stage.
