Getty Images Soars After OpenAI ChatGPT Deal

Getty Images has announced a new multi-year partnership with OpenAI that will bring its licensed photos into ChatGPT’s search and discovery features, marking a major shift in the stock photo company’s approach to artificial intelligence.

The announcement on Monday, June 22, triggered a sharp market reaction, with Getty’s shares soaring more than 200% in premarket trading before settling lower after markets opened, though the stock remained well above Friday’s closing price.

The deal is significant because it gives ChatGPT access to Getty’s licensed visual content, potentially making AI-generated search results more reliable while offering Getty a new commercial partnership after years of taking a cautious stance toward AI companies.

Useful to Train future AI Models

However, many details of the agreement, including its financial terms and whether the images will be used to train OpenAI’s future AI models, have not been disclosed.

Getty said its licensed content library will be integrated into OpenAI’s search and discovery experiences within ChatGPT, allowing users to see high-quality licensed images alongside AI-generated responses.

“High-quality, licensed visual content makes AI-powered search and discovery more useful and more trustworthy,” Getty Images CEO Craig Peters said in a statement. “This partnership with OpenAI reflects a shared recognition of that, and together we will deliver richer visual experiences to ChatGPT users.”

Neither company revealed the value of the agreement or how long the “multi-year” partnership will last. Bloomberg also reported that both companies declined to say whether Getty’s content could be used to train future OpenAI models.

The announcement immediately boosted investor confidence. Getty’s shares climbed more than 200% during premarket trading before opening at about $1.40 on the New York Stock Exchange, compared with Friday’s closing price of $0.64. The stock later pulled back but still traded significantly above its previous close.

The partnership marks a notable change for Getty Images, which has previously challenged the use of copyrighted material by AI companies. In 2023, Getty sued Stability AI, alleging the company copied more than 12 million of its images to train Stable Diffusion without permission.

The company also banned AI-generated artwork from its platform in 2022 and has supported legislation aimed at limiting AI-generated deepfakes.

Getty’s position began evolving in late 2025 when it signed a licensing agreement with Perplexity AI. Under that deal, Perplexity was allowed to display Getty’s images with proper attribution and source links.

While the OpenAI partnership follows a similar licensing approach, the companies have not yet explained how image credits or source attribution will appear inside ChatGPT.

Getty Images works with nearly 600,000 contributors and provides coverage of more than 160,000 news, sports, and entertainment events each year. However, the company is still awaiting regulatory approval for its proposed $3.7 billion acquisition of Shutterstock.

OpenAI, meanwhile, has been expanding partnerships with publishers and content providers as it broadens ChatGPT’s capabilities, including new search, discovery and advertising products.