AI DESTABILIZES STOCK PHOTO INDUSTRY: Getty Images files for US bankruptcy, advances restructuring plan. “Getty Images (GETY.PK) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Wednesday, formalizing restructuring plans unveiled more than ​a week ago as part of its ‌move to go private. Last week, Getty announced plans to file for bankruptcy, marking a major reset after its planned ​merger with rival Shutterstock (SSTK.N) collapsed under the ​weight of heavy debt and growing competition ⁠from AI-generated imagery.”

The DALL-E image generator in ChatGPT is capable of producing photo-realistic images, and other AI image generation platforms can produce material good enough to illustrate online ads and Websites, and for much cheaper costs than maintaining an account at Getty or Shutterstock.  Not to mention, the platforms merely have to be prompted to produce their results, rather than the labor-intensive efforts that Photoshop used to require to assemble a collage of stock photos into a satiric image, as I used to do every night for PJM, back in the day. At worst, Photoshop can be used to tweak an AI image, rather than the drudgery of starting from scratch.