Creative GenerationVerified

Reviewed and published by trentmaziarz, May 11, 2026. Discovered and drafted by our automated research pipeline.

99designs offers clients the option to allow freelance designers to use third-party generative AI tools when submitting designs in eligible contest categories, with disclosure required from designers at submission. Clients choose whether to permit AI-assisted work when writing their contest brief, and generative AI is banned outright in certain categories such as logo, illustration, and button and icon design.

Details

When a client opts in, designers may incorporate outputs from external generative AI tools (such as image generators) as part of their creative work, but must still meet 99designs' originality and quality standards. Designers are required to disclose the specific AI tool used in their submission, and 99designs treats all AI-generated content as third-party material. The opt-in/opt-out mechanism is built into the brief creation workflow for contests and handled via a written agreement in 1-to-1 projects. Generative AI is not permitted in logo, illustration, or button and icon design categories regardless of client preference.

Products affected

99designs Design Contests99designs 1-to-1 Projects

Sources & Evidence

Company Disclosure

Generative AI in Design Contests – 99designs Help Center

99designs·Jan 2024

https://support.99designs.com/hc/en-us/articles/29341768376212-Generative-AI-in-Design-Contests

Company Disclosure

Can I use generative AI in Design Contests? – 99designs Help Center

99designs·Jan 2024

https://support.99designs.com/hc/en-us/articles/28799850704532-Can-I-use-generative-AI-in-Design-Contests

Company Disclosure

Things to consider when using generative AI tools in your designs – 99designs Help Center

99designs·Jan 2024

https://support.99designs.com/hc/en-us/articles/29336951946260-Things-to-consider-when-using-generative-AI-tools-in-your-designs

Company Disclosure

Generative AI in 1-to-1 Projects – 99designs Help Center

99designs·Jan 2024

https://support.99designs.com/hc/en-us/articles/29344300999444-Generative-AI-in-1-to-1-Projects

Cite this record

Trace Foundation. (2026). 99designs: 99designs offers clients the option to allow freelance designers to use third-party generative AI tools when submitting designs in eligible contest categories, with disclosure required from designers at submission. Clients choose whether to permit AI-assisted work when writing their contest brief, and generative AI is banned outright in certain categories such as logo, illustration, and button and icon design (data as of 2026-05-11) [Data set record]. AI Trace. https://www.aitrace.org/r/practice/070f171c-2763-4a45-aa1b-d046408c7eba. Accessed October 5, 2026.

Stable link: https://www.aitrace.org/r/practice/070f171c-2763-4a45-aa1b-d046408c7eba
Data as of: May 11, 2026
Last verified: Not recorded

How to cite AI Trace

Other practices by 99designs

Other99designs by Vista announced findings from a 2024 survey of over 10,000 freelance designers across 135 countries examining attitudes toward and adoption of generative AI tools in the design industry. The survey is a research and communications activity, not a deployed AI system.Moderation99designs uses a built-in declaration mechanism in its contest submission workflow that requires designers to disclose whether they used generative AI tools, and the platform enforces a categorical ban on AI-generated content in logo, illustration, and button/icon design contests. This is a platform-level policy control rather than an automated AI detection system.

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