Shares in Getty Images Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: GETY) are surging in premarket trading this morning—up nearly a staggering 150% as of the time of this writing—after the stock photography giant announced an unexpected deal with ChatGPT-maker OpenAI. Here’s what you need to know.
What’s happened?
On Sunday, Getty Images said it has entered into a partnership with OpenAI. The deal will see images from Getty’s licensed content libraries surface in OpenAI search results and “discovery experiences within ChatGPT.”
In other words, when you ask ChatGPT a question now, its reply may include a Getty-licensed photograph or image to help illustrate the topic being discussed.
“High‑quality, licensed visual content makes AI‑powered search and discovery more useful and more trustworthy,” Getty CEO Craig Peters said in a statement. “This partnership with OpenAI reflects a shared recognition of that, and together we will deliver richer visual experiences to ChatGPT users.”
No financial details of the partnership were disclosed. Getty has referred to the deal as a “multi‑year agreement.”
A deal for display, not training
Getty is one of the two most prominent editorial and stock image companies in the world (the other being competitor Shutterstock). If you read a news article online or in print, there is a good chance some of the images it contains may be from Getty’s content library.
Because its image library is the company’s bread and butter, Getty fiercely protects its content.
That’s why it was little surprise when the company became one of the first big-name content owners to sue an AI firm, Stability AI, for allegedly infringing on its copyrights by training its AI models on Getty’s images. (Getty filed the suit in 2023. In November 2025, Getty largely lost the suit, noted Reuters at the time.)
Given Getty’s understandable displeasure with AI companies using its content to train their models, some may find it surprising that the company has now entered into a partnership with OpenAI.
Yet it’s important to note that this week’s OpenAI-Getty deal does not give OpenAI the ability to train its model on Getty images that surface in its search and chatbot results.
Rather, the deal is only for the display of relevant Getty images. A Getty spokesperson confirmed the display-only nature of the OpenAI deal to Fast Company.
AI sinks and revives Getty’s stock
Getty Images originally went public in 1996 before being taken private by a private equity firm 12 years later.
But in 2022, the photography company again went public on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) via a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. While the company’s stock briefly popped post-IPO, Getty also had the misfortune of going public just as generative image AI tools were taking off.
This, understandably, led many investors to question whether Getty’s very business model was under an existential threat if anyone could simply generate the photo they required using AI tools.
Getty’s stock has since fallen sharply from its post-IPO high of above $30 per share in August 2022.
By September of that year, GETY shares were trading below $10 apiece—and they’ve fallen dramatically since.
Over the past 12 months, GETY shares have cratered more than 66% as of Thursday’s closing price of 60 cents. Year-to-date, GETY shares were down nearly 55%.
But then Getty announced its OpenAI deal yesterday, and today, the first day of trading after the deal was announced, the company’s shares are skyrocketing.
As of this writing, GETY shares are up more than 149% to $1.59 per share in premarket trading.
That’s a high the company’s share price has not seen since last November. It also places Getty stock firmly back in the green for the calendar year. Whether or not GETY shares can remain in the green for the rest of 2026, however, remains to be seen.