(June 23): Shares of stock-photo company Getty Images Holdings Inc soared as much as 145% on Monday after it announced a licensing deal with OpenAI.
In a statement on Sunday, Getty said that images from its library will appear in the search and discovery features of ChatGPT, marking a key reversal for the firm. The companies did not share financial terms or disclose any details over whether Getty’s images would be used to train future OpenAI models.
Getty shares closed 90% higher at US$1.15 (RM4.76) in New York, notching their best session since July 2022. The stock had fallen about 55% this year to close at 61 cents last Thursday before the Juneteenth holiday weekend began.
The company’s shares have been hurt by the artificial intelligence (AI) “scare trade”, which has rippled through various corners of the market, from software and IT services firms to so-called “old economy” industries such as logistics.
Getty has been particularly affected due to fears that OpenAI, along with other developers, will poach its business. AI can produce realistic images, and the companies behind the tools have repeatedly clashed with photographers and creators whose work helped train their technology. After initially resisting the technology, Getty attempted to develop its own AI image generator and had sued Stability AI, a developer of another popular tool.
The partnership with OpenAI could improve “licensing optics” and shift the narrative on the stock, according to Mark Zgutowicz, an analyst at Benchmark.
Getty is “attempting to position itself as a licensed visual-content supplier to AI-native search platforms, shifting part of the AI narrative from substitution risk towards monetisable distribution, which has proven difficult in terms of recurring revenue optics thus far”, Zgutowicz wrote in a note published on Monday. “Net-net, the deal should help sentiment regarding content disintermediation risk.”
OpenAI has cut a number of licensing deals with news publishers and media firms as the ChatGPT creator expands into areas like video creation and advertising.
In May, Getty reported first-quarter sales that missed expectations. The company is still waiting for approval to buy rival Shutterstock Inc in a US$3.7 billion deal.
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