The magical world of AI-generated art has become more mainstream over the past few months. There has also been some backlash against the industry, including brewing class action lawsuits alleging copyright violations and resistance from online artist communities. But until last Friday, a substantial legal threat was yet to emerge against the technology that underpins AI art. 

Last week, that significant threat materialized when one of the largest global stock image libraries, Getty Images, sued one of the most prominent AI art developers, U.K.-based Stability AI—the creator of open-source AI art generator Stable Diffusion—adding to Getty’s initial suit in a London court.