Stability AI—Stability AI trained Stable Diffusion on 5 billion scraped images without licensing, facing lawsuits from artists and Getty Images
Stability AI built its Stable Diffusion image generation model using the LAION dataset of 5 billion images scraped from the internet without creator consent or licensing. Visual artists filed a class action (Andersen v. Stability AI) in January 2023, and Getty Images sued in February 2023 over infringement of 12 million+ photographs. A leaked Midjourney spreadsheet cataloged 4,700+ artist names whose styles were specifically targeted. Trial is set for September 2026.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intellectual Property Ethics | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | -1.720 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (critical ×2) × confidence (0.86)
Evidence (4 signals)
Getty Images sued Stability AI for infringing 12 million+ photographs used to train Stable Diffusion
Getty Images filed suit in February 2023 accusing Stability AI of infringing more than 12 million photographs, captions, and metadata to build Stable Diffusion. Getty alleged unlicensed scraping with intent to directly compete with Getty. A parallel UK case partially ruled in November 2025.
Sued by Getty Images for infringing 12 million photographs in AI training
In January 2023, Getty Images filed a lawsuit against Stability AI claiming infringement of over 12 million photographs, captions and metadata used to train Stable Diffusion. Damages claims reached up to $1.7 billion. The lawsuit noted that training data included CSAM content. In November 2025, the Court largely rejected Getty's infringement claims, save for limited trademark findings.
Class action lawsuit by artists for copyright infringement in AI training
In January 2023, artists Sarah Andersen, Kelly McKernan, and Karla Ortiz filed a class-action copyright infringement lawsuit against Stability AI, Midjourney, and DeviantArt. The lawsuit focuses on the LAION dataset of 5 billion images scraped from the internet. In August 2024, Judge Orrick denied Stability AI's motion to dismiss, allowing the case to proceed to discovery with trial set for September 2026.
Visual artists filed class action against Stability AI, Midjourney, and DeviantArt over AI training on scraped images
Artists Sarah Andersen, Kelly McKernan, and Karla Ortiz filed a class action in January 2023 alleging copyright infringement from training Stable Diffusion on the LAION dataset of 5 billion scraped images. Court dismissed some claims in August 2024 but preserved direct copyright infringement and trademark claims. Trial set for September 2026.