AI Tools Commercial Rights Comparison

Commercial Use by Plan Tier

Ownership & Rights

• You own the images you create - Subject to Midjourney's license terms
• Midjourney has a license to your images - They can use, display, and reproduce your images for service promotion (non-commercial)
• Stealth Mode (Pro/Mega) - Your images won't appear in public galleries, providing more privacy
• Images are public by default - On Basic/Standard, all generated images are visible to other users

Attribution Requirements

No attribution required for commercial use as of 2024. However:

• You cannot claim images were created without AI assistance if directly asked
• Some platforms (stock sites, marketplaces) may have their own disclosure requirements
• Ethical best practice is to disclose AI use, especially in editorial contexts

What You CAN Do (Paid Plans)

• Sell prints, merchandise, and products featuring Midjourney images
• Use images in client work, marketing materials, and advertising
• Publish in books, magazines, and digital media
• Use in video content, streaming, and social media
• Create and sell NFTs

What You CANNOT Do

• Use for free trial users in any commercial context
• Generate images that infringe on existing trademarks or copyrights
• Create content that violates Midjourney's content policy (adult, violence, etc.)
• Use Basic/Standard if your company exceeds $1M revenue
• Assert copyright over the Midjourney service or underlying AI

Commercial Use by Plan

Ownership Terms

OpenAI's terms are notably clear: You own the images you create.

• Full ownership rights - Sell, reprint, merchandise, and commercialize
• No revenue threshold - Same rights apply regardless of your company size
• API and consumer parity - Similar ownership rights across access methods
• No Midjourney-style public gallery - Your images are private by default

Attribution Requirements

No attribution required for commercial use. OpenAI does not require credit or disclosure in your commercial materials.

ChatGPT-Generated Text

The same ownership principles apply to text generated by ChatGPT:

• You own ChatGPT text outputs - Use commercially, publish, sell
• Code is yours - Deploy, modify, commercialize generated code
• No royalties - OpenAI doesn't claim ongoing rights to your outputs

What You CAN Do

• Sell DALL-E images as prints, merchandise, or digital products
• Use in advertising, marketing, and commercial publications
• Include in client deliverables
• Build products and services using API outputs
• Create and sell NFTs

What You CANNOT Do

• Generate content violating OpenAI's content policy
• Create deepfakes or misleading content about real people
• Use outputs for illegal purposes
• Attempt to reverse-engineer or extract the model

Licensing Overview

Stable Diffusion is released under the CreativeML Open RAIL-M License, which is uniquely permissive for AI models:

What the Open RAIL-M License Allows

• Commercial use of generated images - Sell, license, merchandise
• Build commercial applications - Create products/services using SD
• Modify the model - Fine-tune, train LoRAs, create derivatives
• Distribute - Share the model and your modifications
• No revenue thresholds - Same rights for everyone
• No attribution required for images - Though appreciated

License Restrictions

The RAIL-M license has "responsible AI" restrictions:

• Cannot use to generate illegal content
• Cannot use to harm, deceive, or exploit others
• Cannot use for harassment, generating CSAM, or non-consensual intimate imagery
• Cannot use for discriminatory purposes
• Must include license notice if redistributing the model

Hosted Services vs. Self-Hosted

Training Data Concerns

Stable Diffusion was trained on LAION datasets containing billions of images scraped from the internet. Key lawsuits to watch:

• Getty Images v. Stability AI - Getty claims unauthorized use of millions of copyrighted images
• Andersen v. Stability AI - Artists claiming copyright infringement
• Outcomes could affect all SD users, though end-user liability appears limited

Commercial Use by Plan

IP Indemnification Explained

What it means: If someone claims that a Firefly-generated image infringes their intellectual property, Adobe will defend you and pay damages (subject to terms and limits).

Coverage includes:

• Legal defense costs
• Settlement or judgment payments
• Protection against copyright and trademark claims

Requirements for coverage:

• You must have an eligible paid plan
• Use Firefly within Adobe applications as intended
• Don't deliberately try to recreate copyrighted works
• Follow Adobe's terms of service
• Notify Adobe promptly of any claims

Training Data Transparency

Adobe is uniquely transparent about Firefly's training data:

• Adobe Stock images - Licensed content with proper rights
• Public domain works - Copyright-free images
• Openly licensed content - Creative Commons and similar
• No scraped web content - Unlike Stable Diffusion and others

Content Credentials

Firefly outputs include Content Credentials (C2PA metadata) that identify the image as AI-generated. This supports transparency but doesn't affect your commercial rights.

Best For

Claude is primarily a text and code generation model (not images), but commercial rights are important for businesses using AI-generated content.

Commercial Use by Plan

Ownership Terms

• You own outputs - Anthropic assigns ownership of Claude-generated content to you
• Commercial use permitted - Business documents, marketing, code, creative works
• No attribution required - You don't need to credit Anthropic or Claude
• No revenue thresholds - Same rights regardless of company size

What You CAN Do

• Use Claude-generated text in commercial publications
• Deploy Claude-generated code in commercial software
• Create marketing copy, business documents, and content
• Build commercial applications using the API
• Use for client work and deliverables

What You CANNOT Do

• Generate harmful, deceptive, or illegal content
• Use outputs to train competing AI models (API restriction)
• Claim copyright over Claude itself
• Circumvent safety measures

Code Generation Rights

Claude is popular for code generation. Key points:

• You own generated code - Deploy, modify, sell
• No open-source "infection" - Generated code isn't automatically GPL/etc.
• Caution with specific implementations - Code mimicking specific copyrighted works could be problematic
• Review before deployment - Standard software development practice applies

Commercial Use by Plan

Ownership Terms

Google's terms have evolved. Current key points:

• You own your inputs - Your prompts and uploaded content remain yours
• Outputs ownership varies - Generally assigned to you for paid tiers
• Google retains some rights - May use interactions to improve services (opt-out available for some plans)
• Enterprise terms differ - More favorable ownership and privacy terms

Image Generation (Imagen)

Google's Imagen image generator (available through Gemini and Vertex AI):

• Commercial rights on paid plans - Use generated images commercially
• Safety filters - More restrictive content generation than some competitors
• SynthID watermarking - Invisible watermarks identify AI-generated images
• Enterprise indemnification - Available for qualifying enterprise customers

Attribution Requirements

No attribution required for commercial use on paid plans. However, Google encourages transparency about AI use.

What You CAN Do (Paid Plans)

• Use Gemini text outputs commercially
• Use Imagen-generated images in commercial projects
• Build applications using Vertex AI APIs
• Create business content, marketing, and documentation

What You CANNOT Do

• Commercial use on free tier
• Generate content violating Google's policies
• Create deepfakes or misleading content about real people
• Use for illegal purposes