Stock photos and AI images: rights, risks and better options
What you may and may not do with stock photography and AI-generated images on a business website, and why your own photographs usually beat both.
The short answer
Stock photography is licensed, not sold, and the licence has limits that businesses regularly exceed without noticing: restrictions on sensitive or defamatory contexts, prohibitions on using an image within a logo or trade mark, limits on resale or redistribution as part of a template, sometimes territory and print volume, and the requirement that identifiable people in commercial images are covered by a model release. AI-generated images sit on newer ground. Most major providers grant commercial use rights in their terms, with differences in indemnity against third-party claims, in whether outputs may be registered as trade marks, and in what they say about training data. Under EU law a photograph is protected only if it is original in the sense that it is the author’s own intellectual creation, and no other criterion may be applied. The same originality test applies to works in general. Whether an image produced by a generative system meets it depends on the human creative choices behind it, and that question is not settled. And protection, where it exists, is against copying rather than against independent creation: it does not stop someone else generating a similar image from a similar prompt. Neither category is a problem for ordinary website use when you read the terms and keep records per image. For a business website, though, your own photographs beat both: they are unique, they build trust, and they remove the question entirely.
Comparing the options
| Source | Rights position | Main risks | Best use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your own photography | You own it, subject to releases from people shown | Needs a photographer and time | Team, premises, work, products, anything implying it is you |
| Commissioned photography | Licence or transfer per contract | Scope too narrow if not agreed | Key brand imagery |
| Stock, royalty-free | Licensed with conditions | Sensitive use, logo use, resale, model releases | Backgrounds, abstract concepts |
| Stock, rights-managed | Licensed narrowly | Territory, duration, media limits | Campaigns with defined scope |
| Free stock sites | Varies by site and image | Unclear provenance; licence changes | Low-stakes decoration; verify each |
| AI-generated | Per provider terms; protection depends on the human creative choices behind the image, and is against copying rather than independent creation | Indemnity varies; trade mark use restricted; similarity to existing works | Illustration and concepts, not depictions of your business |
| Images from search results | No licence | Enforcement letters | Never |
Working safely with images
- Prefer your own photographs for anything showing your business, your team or your work.
- Record every licensed asset: source, licence, scope, attribution, date, invoice.
- Check sensitive-use clauses before using stock in contexts involving health, finance, legal matters or anything unflattering.
- Never use stock people in a way that implies they are your staff or customers.
- Never place a licensed image in a logo or a resold template.
- For AI images, read the provider’s terms, record which tool and prompt produced each, and avoid using them where a real depiction is implied.
- Review at a rebrand or expansion, when scope may change.
- Replace anything undocumented rather than hoping.
The trust argument
Stock photography on a small business website is recognisable to visitors, and the specific recognisable kind, a diverse team laughing in a bright office, a handshake, a headset, actively reduces credibility because everyone has seen the same picture on a competitor’s site. A photograph of your actual premises, your actual van, your actual team, taken competently, does more for conversion than any stock library. AI images are heading the same way as they become more familiar. For the pages that matter, invest a day in a photographer.
What this means for you
Stock and AI images are usable with care: read the licence or the provider terms, respect sensitive-use and logo restrictions, check model releases, and keep a record per image. Avoid images with no documented licence entirely. Then consider that your own photographs are cheaper over time, build more trust and remove the question, which is why we recommend them for anything depicting your business. This is general information rather than legal advice.
Frequently asked questions
Can we use AI-generated images on our website?
Generally yes under most providers' terms, and the details matter: whether the provider grants you rights, what indemnity is offered against third-party claims, whether outputs may be used in trade marks, and any disclosure expectations. Under EU law an image is protected only if it is the author's own intellectual creation, and whether a generated one meets that test is not settled. Protection, where it exists, is against copying rather than independent creation: it does not stop someone generating a similar image from a similar prompt. Read the tool's terms and keep a record per image.
What are the real risks with stock photography?
Using an image outside the licence scope, which covers sensitive or defamatory contexts, use in a logo or trade mark, resale as part of a template, and sometimes territory or print volume; and using images of identifiable people without an appropriate model release for commercial use. The other frequent problem is images taken from search results with no licence at all, which is where enforcement letters come from.
What should a business website actually use?
Its own photographs wherever possible: the team, the premises, the work, the products. They are unique, they build trust in a way stock cannot, they carry no licensing question, and visitors can tell the difference immediately. Use stock for backgrounds and abstract concepts where a real photograph is impossible, and AI images with care for illustration rather than for anything implying it depicts your business.
Sources
- EUIPO: Copyright and GenAI (accessed 2026-09-14)
- EUR-Lex: Directive 2006/116/EC, Article 6 (protection of photographs) (accessed 2026-09-14)
- CJEU: Infopaq International, C-5/08, on originality (accessed 2026-09-14)
- Open Source Initiative: Licenses (accessed 2026-09-12)