Generative AI has infiltrated nearly every part of our online lives, and photography and other creative services are no exception. Getty Images is best known for its extensive stock library, and it began experimenting with AI back in 2023. Now, it has a collection of AI editing tools to help people who license the perfect imagery through its library. It also has an AI image generator that has one of the best setups I've ever used.
There's a lot to like about Getty Images's approach to AI. Any AI-created or edited images are commercially safe, meaning you can use them in business. Your generated images are private to you; other people can't license them. If a creator's original work is used as a reference to create new AI-edited images, those creators are paid. Most importantly, Getty Images' AI is trained exclusively on its creative library catalog -- not scraped from the open web, public domain or other outside data sources. As far as AI creative services go, it's a relatively safe and private option among a slew of competition that don't take the same level of precaution.
If you're a single Getty Images user -- meaning you're not on a business plan -- you'll need to purchase additional access to its AI tools. You can try out the AI tools with a $49 one time payment to receive 25 generation credits or $149 for 100 credits. If you're on an enterprise plan, your access will vary depending on your company's policy.
Here's how my experience went with Getty Images. For more, check out my hands-on with Google's Veo 3 AI videos and the best Photoshop AI features.
I've often spent time searching through Getty Images looking for that perfect image, and it's frustrating when you can't find it. Or worse, you find a picture that could be a good fit, if not for one small quirk or error. If that sounds familiar to your own Getty Images experience, I recommend giving its AI tools a whirl -- that's why they're there.
There aren't a ton of editing tools, but Getty has the basics. You can use AI to remove an image's background, add and remove objects and extend the image. The remove background tool worked really well. I was able to extend several images and resize them however I needed, which was great. I had better luck getting good images when I extended a more plain, not detailed image. For more detailed photos, I ran into a couple of instances where objects would disappear or overlap in the new AI-generated portions.
The add and remove object tool didn't really meet my expectations; it wouldn't match the vibe or colors of the current photo when I added new elements, and removing them caused me to run into issues too. I hope these tools get some refining in future updates because I think they hold a lot of potential. The AI image generator, however, surpassed my expectations, especially for photorealistic images.
Getty Images' AI generator page is a thing of beauty. A variety of menus are on the right side of the screen so you can customize your results, including aspect ratio, camera controls and color palette. You can also choose to generate more realistic photography-like images or opt for illustrations. All these things are essential to good AI prompting, but having separate, easy-to-access menus means I don't have to waste characters building this foundation.
Getty Images also has a prompt-building tool, which is great if you're not comfortable or overly practiced with writing image prompts. It doesn't write the prompt for you like Leonardo.Ai, but it presents a kind of fill-in-the-blank menu. It's great for building out ideas into a usable prompt. If you're stuck for ideas or inspiration, you can peruse Getty's library of human-created photos or the suggested AI prompts and images below the window.
I always advise people not to include exclusionary characteristics in their prompts -- things they don't want to show up -- because AI image generators can be finicky. Even if you put "don't" in all caps, you may get something you don't want simply because the program misreads your prompt. Getty Images might be the one exception to my rule because it has a dedicated box in the prompt window for exclusions. It's the only AI image generator I've seen that has that feature, and I enjoyed using it to narrow my results.
Getty Images has blockers in place to prevent the creation of protected content, like branded logos or a celebrity's likeness. These were effective in my testing -- it wouldn't load copyrighted elements like iconic cartoon characters or brand names. Sometimes it was a little too effective and blocked innocuous prompts like "other people," but a simple rewording of my prompt allowed me to bypass that.
Uploading a reference image is always a good tool to take advantage of when you have the option, because it helps constrain the AI within a particular vibe you're looking for. Getty Images lets you indicate if you're looking to maintain the colors or composition, as well as control the intensity of how much you want it referenced. It's a nice perk, and it's great for pre- and post-generation editing.
Getty Images does offer some post-generation editing tools, which were hit or miss for me. You can extend and resize your image, which worked well. But when it came to selecting and removing specific objects, the AI didn't seem to be able to replace the affected area so it would blend seamlessly.
I found that Getty Images was better at generating more realistic-looking images, likely because the AI model was trained on more professional photography than other kinds of digital content. Not all the images were perfect -- there were a fair number of hallucinations in the ones I created, especially if you look closely. But if you're looking for a specific stock photo and can't find it in Getty Images' library of human-generated photos, the AI generator is a great place to look next.
Overall, Getty Images impressed me. It's not the perfect AI image generator -- it's definitely better at photorealistic than any other style, understandably so -- and lacks a whole slew of tools that those who spend all day in Adobe might miss. But what Getty Images does offer is well thought out. It's clearly meant to entice professionals who are rightfully wary of AI creative tools like these. The company's behind-the-scenes safety tech and privacy policies ought to make it a bit less worrisome for those professionals to consider experimenting with AI, and it's markedly different from AI-forward companies like Midjourney and OpenAI.
If you're already a Getty Images user, I think it's worth exploring its AI tools to see if there's a good place where it can aid your workflow. And if you're a true AI creative enthusiast, I would definitely recommend giving its AI image generator a try.
