Deal explainer
Shutterstock's six-year data deal with OpenAI
Quick answer
In July 2023, Shutterstock expanded its existing OpenAI partnership into a new six-year agreement licensing Shutterstock's image, video and music libraries and associated metadata for OpenAI model training. In exchange, Shutterstock gets priority access to OpenAI technology and continues integrating DALL-E into its own platform.
What was reported#
- The expanded deal was announced July 11, 2023, running for six years.
- It extends a partnership that began in 2021 when Shutterstock first let OpenAI train DALL-E on its image library.
- The agreement adds video and music libraries and metadata to the data OpenAI can license, beyond the original images-only scope.
- Shutterstock said it would continue to integrate OpenAI's DALL-E generative tool directly on shutterstock.com.
- The companies also planned to bring generative AI features to Shutterstock's Giphy platform, acquired from Meta.
Related deals
SourceX was not a party to these deals. This tracker summarizes public reporting so businesses can see how AI data licensing is developing.
Sources
Public sources, checked 2026-10-09. SourceX is not affiliated with the organizations named.
- Shutterstock: Shutterstock Expands Partnership with OpenAI, Signs New Six-Year Agreement investor.shutterstock.com
- The Verge: OpenAI's DALL-E will train on Shutterstock's library for six more years theverge.com
- TechCrunch: Shutterstock expands deal with OpenAI to build generative AI tools techcrunch.com
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