Summary:
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Getty Images partners with OpenAI for its ChatGPT search features, showcasing licensed content without feeding into AI models.
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Getty’s stock soars after multi-year deal announcement, despite lack of financial terms and photographer payment details.
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Display, not training deal, integrates Getty’s photos into ChatGPT for richer visual answers, following similar partnerships in the past.
Getty Images spent years treating AI image tools as the enemy. Now it’s handing its library to the biggest chatbot around.
Getty announced a multi-year deal with OpenAI on June 21 to put its licensed content inside ChatGPT’s search and discovery features.
Getty banned AI-generated art from its library in 2022. Then it sued Stability AI for copyright violations. That claim was tossed out late last year. Investors loved the news anyway. Getty’s stock soared as much as 145% on Monday after the deal went public.
This is a display deal, not a training deal. Getty’s photos will show up inside ChatGPT to make visual answers richer. They won’t be fed into OpenAI’s models. That’s the difference between licensing your work and handing it over.
Neither company shared the financial terms. And the people who actually take the photos are missing from the announcement. Getty and OpenAI haven’t said how photographers will be paid, or whether they can opt out.
Although it did come as a surprise, this didn’t come out of nowhere. Getty signed a similar deal with Perplexity in October 2025, and pushed for image credits that link back to the source.
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