Thousands of AI-Generated Images are For Sale on Stock Photo Websites

Artificially intelligent (AI) images generated by machines are for sale en-masse on stock photo websites such as Shutterstock, iStock, and Adobe Stock. The development means there is increased competition for photographers on what were traditionally called photography stock websites, but might be now better described as something else. A search on Shutterstock with the term "AI-Generated" returns 18,850 results, not all of which were created by programs such as DALl-E, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion but a brief scroll through makes it clear that many of them were. The same search in iStock generates 1,585 results with one image that photographers could only dream of a "Vintage Photograph of Loch Ness Monster." Vanessa, a book cover photographer, released a video entitled How to start selling Midjourney AI art on Shutterstock. "I found Shutterstock is accepting AI art, not everybody is on board with the AI-generated art, that might change with time," she says.