OpenAI strikes Getty Images deal to bring licensed visuals into ChatGPT
OpenAI turns to Getty for licensed content
OpenAI has signed a multi-year partnership with Getty Images that will bring the photo giant’s licensed content libraries into ChatGPT and OpenAI Search, a move that underscores how AI companies are increasingly relying on formal content deals to address copyright concerns and improve how their systems source imagery.
Getty said the arrangement will let its content appear inside OpenAI’s products, giving users access to richer visual results. In a statement, Getty CEO Craig Peters said that “high-quality, licensed visual content makes AI-powered search and discovery more useful and more trustworthy,” adding that the partnership reflects a shared recognition of that goal.
The deal comes after Getty took a far more combative approach to AI firms. In September 2022, the company banned AI-generated art from its library. Months later, it sued Stability AI over alleged copyright violations, a claim that was rejected late last year. Getty later launched its own generative AI tool, trained on its library and powered by NVIDIA’s Edigy AI model, with each generated image distributed under a royalty-free license.
A broader shift in AI content sourcing
The OpenAI agreement follows a similar deal Getty made with Perplexity AI in October 2025. That partnership allowed Perplexity’s AI search and discovery tools to access Getty’s library, and Perplexity said it would improve how it displays imagery, including adding image credits and links to sources to better educate users about legal use of licensed imagery.
Getty has not disclosed whether its images will be used to train OpenAI’s models, and the company has not said that training rights are included in the new agreement. The lack of detail leaves open a key question in the AI content debate: whether licensing deals are meant only to improve what users see at the output stage, or whether they also extend to model training itself.
For OpenAI, the partnership adds a major licensed source of visual content at a time when AI companies are under pressure to show where their material comes from and how they compensate rights holders.
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