AI firm wins high court ruling over copyright claim by photo agency

A London-based artificial intelligence firm has won a landmark high court case examining the legality of AI models using vast troves of copyrighted data without permission.

- Robert Booth UK technology editor

Stability AI, whose directors include the Oscar-winning filmmaker James Cameron, successfully resisted a claim from Getty Images that it had infringed the international photo agency's copyright.

The ruling is seen as a blow to copyright owners' exclusive right to reap the rewards of their work.

Rebecca Newman, a legal director at Addleshaw Goddard, said it meant "the UK's secondary copyright regime is not strong enough to protect its creators".

There was evidence that Getty's images were used to train Stability's AI model, which allows users to generate images with text prompts.

Stability was found to have infringed Getty's trademarks in some cases.

The judge, Mrs Justice Smith, said the question of where to strike the balance between the interests of the creative industries and the AI industry was "of very real societal importance". But she was only able to rule on relatively narrow claims after Getty had to withdraw parts of its case during the trial last summer.