UK Trial Between Getty And Stability AI Tests AI's Legal Boundaries

Getty Images and Stability AI are facing off in a landmark copyright trial in London—the first major courtroom battle over generative AI.

The British High Court trial began this week and is expected to last up to three weeks.

Stability AI, based in London, created the image-generating tool Stable Diffusion, which drew global attention after its August 2022 launch.

Getty, a Seattle-based photo agency, alleges the tool was trained using its copyrighted images without permission—calling it “brazen infringement” on a massive scale.

Tech firms often argue that using such material is protected under “fair use” or “fair dealing” laws in the U.S. and UK. Getty challenged that claim by filing lawsuits in both countries in early 2023.

Stability contends the case doesn’t belong in the UK, as the model was trained on Amazon servers in the U.S. Similar lawsuits in the U.S. are still pending trial.