Shutterstock has launched an AI picture generator that predicts how Julius Malema, Helen Zille, and Jacob Zuma will look like

Shutterstock is the latest business to develop an AI picture generator that allows users to generate images using text prompts.

Shutterstock’s Creative Flow toolbox, a media production and editing suite, includes the functionality.

Shutterstock chief executive officer Paul Hennesy said the business has been working with strategic partners including OpenAI, Meta Platforms, and LG AI Research to feed generative AI research initiatives.

“We are now able to uniquely bring responsibly-produced generative AI capabilities to our own customers,” said Hennesy.

Shutterstock enlarged on the notion of “responsible” in this situation as follows:

“We’re the first to support a responsible AI-generation model that pays artists for their contributions, making us your trusted partner for generating and licensing the visuals you need to uplevel your brand,” it said.

“Also, we have thoughtfully built in mitigations against the biases that may be inherent in some of our datasets, and we are continuing to explore ways to fairly depict underrepresented groups.”

The business recently announced a collaboration with OpenAI to offer Shutterstock its Dall-E text-to-image AI model capabilities.

Shutterstock stated that one of the reasons their product stood out was because it was simple to use and available to anybody.

Users are not required to write long, complex instructions, but can instead submit a single word or short, basic sentences. It also has a style selector and support for more than 20 languages.

After creating a picture, users may refine it with Shutterstock’s Create editing tool.

Shutterstock also claimed to be the first to compensate artists for their published and licenced work.

When attempting to produce photos of well-known personalities such as President Cyril Ramaphosa, Elon Musk, or Vladimir Putin, the programme gave an error notice.

It was suggested that some of the phrases in the prompt might yield visuals that would be difficult to licence for commercial use responsibly.

For some reason, doing the same with Jacob Zuma, Helen Zille, and Julius Malema produced no errors.

The sets of photos created by Shutterstock’s AI tool are listed below, with the question used to generate them highlighted.

Load-shedding

Eskom power station

Lion in the Kruger National Park

Crime scene in Johannesburg

Table mountain in Cape Town

South Africa

Durban city skyline

Jacob Zuma

Helen Zille

Julius Malema