Are A.I. Image Generators Violating Copyright Laws?

Type in a prompt like "a chocolate bar riding a bicycle in the style of Picasso," and artificial intelligence tools including DALL-E, Midjourney and Stable Diffusion can conjure an image for you in seconds. They do so by incorporating elements from the vast libraries of digitally available images and artwork from across the internet that they have been trained on. That question is at the heart of two new lawsuits. Last week, Seattle-based stock image giant Getty Images announced that it has initiated legal proceedings against Stability AI, the maker of Stable Diffusion. Getty alleges that the company has copied millions of its images and "[chosen] to ignore viable licensing options and long-standing legal protections in pursuit of their stand-alone commercial interests."