Shutterstock Unveils TRUST, its Best-in-Class Approach for Ethical AI

As the first to bring commercially safe AI to the industry, Shutterstock TRUST serves as a guide for brands and agencies seeking a framework for responsible AI

NEW YORK, Nov. 9, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Shutterstock, Inc. (NYSE: SSTK), a leading global creative platform connecting brands and businesses to quality content, today announced TRUST, an official guiding framework that embodies Shutterstock's long-standing values and commitment to using AI responsibly in its products and workflows. TRUST, an acronym for Training, Royalties, Uplift, Safeguards and Transparency, reflects the core commitments that Shutterstock has actively upheld over the last two decades. In an unregulated and rapidly evolving industry, this framework can also serve as an action-driven checklist for companies experimenting with AI technologies and reiterates Shutterstock's lifelong, contributor-centric operating principles.

TRUST's commitments include:

Training on properly licensed data
Royalties that compensate artists fairly
Uplift and promote representation that reflects the world
Safeguards to control content and protect customers
Transparency by default

"Maintaining the trust of our contributors and customers is at our core, and our TRUST framework affirms the actions we take to support this commitment," said Dr. Alessandra Sala, Senior Director of AI and Data Science at Shutterstock. "We've always trained on properly licensed data, sought out new revenue streams for our contributors and uplifted creators and underrepresented groups. TRUST formalizes these principles in a clear, straightforward approach that others in the industry can follow as they embark on their own responsible AI journeys."

Training
Respecting the IP rights of artists is central to Shutterstock's business as a world leader in content licensing. This includes ensuring that our AI models are trained only on properly licensed content and requiring our AI partners to uphold the same standard. Shutterstock takes careful steps to ensure it has the rights to license the content on its platform, and that the content complies with our content standards.

Further, contributors are empowered with the option to opt out of data deals to respect their autonomy and preferences, however, to date only about 1 percent of contributors to the Shutterstock platform have chosen to do so.