Getty Images and ChatGPT: Stock Soars 178%

A Strategic Partnership Between OpenAI and Getty Images

Artificial intelligence is at the heart of current technological innovations, and OpenAI continues to push the boundaries of its capabilities. In this dynamic, the company has recently entered into a notable agreement with Getty Images, a major player in the image market. This multi-year agreement aims to integrate Getty Images' vast libraries of licensed images directly into the search and discovery features of ChatGPT. This announcement, made on Monday, June 22, 2026, immediately sparked a frenzied reaction in the financial markets, resulting in an impressive nearly 200% increase in Getty Images' stock price even before the official opening of the stock exchange.

Getty Images: A Significant Shift

This partnership marks a major turning point for Getty Images, which, in 2022, had taken a decidedly critical stance toward artificial intelligence. At that time, the agency had banned AI-generated works from its collections and even initiated legal action against Stability AI for copyright infringement. However, a few months later, Getty Images made a strategic pivot by launching its own generative AI tool and partnering with Nvidia's Edify model.

Today, the agreement with OpenAI represents a crucial opportunity for Getty Images, which has recently gone through a financially challenging period. With declining revenue and disappointing quarterly results, the company has seen its stock value drop by more than 50% in a year. In this context, the surge in stock price during pre-market trading is understandable. This partnership promises to enhance the reliability and traceability of content, thereby strengthening Getty Images' position in the market.

A Shared Vision for Enriched Experiences

In an official statement, Craig Peters, CEO of Getty Images, emphasized the importance of this partnership. He stated that "licensed, high-quality visual content makes search and discovery more useful and reliable. This partnership with OpenAI reflects a shared recognition of this, and together, we will provide enriched visual experiences to ChatGPT users." This statement highlights the common ambition of both companies to offer improved services to users.

However, despite the excitement generated by this announcement, some questions remain unanswered. Notably, Getty Images did not clarify whether OpenAI would be allowed to use its images to train its AI models. This ambiguity is particularly notable given that Getty Images' previous agreement with Perplexity explicitly excluded such use. This uncertainty casts doubt on the actual extent of the collaboration between the two giants.