Since the early 2000s, companies like Shutterstock and Getty Images have ruled the stock image industry. All was well until AI came along. Now, OpenAI's DALL·E 2 and Google's Imagen can create realistic images and art from a description in natural language. Could AI challenge the very existence of microstock agencies? Will they be forced to change their business model altogether?

Stock photos are the bane of many marketers and designers. It is a huge part of the life of content marketers, graphic designers and copywriters. They command high fees for usage and are able to justify them due to the fact that the majority of the users of stock images are enterprises. One of the first examples of a stock photo was circa 1920 when American photographer H. Armstrong Roberts ensured that the people photographed in Group in Front of Tri-Motor Airplane all signed model releases. This allowed the photograph and others like it to be commercially viable.