AI Usage at a Glance
Mar 1, 2016
RecommendationPractice documented: Shutterstock uses a custom-built neural network to power visual similarity search and reverse image search across its entire library, allowing users to find matching content by uploading a photo rather than typing keywords. This applies to both images and video.
Practice DocumentedView practice →Nov 11, 2020
Creative GenPractice documented: Shutterstock offers AI-generated, royalty-free music through technology acquired from Amper Music in 2020. Users can generate original music tracks by selecting genre, mood, and instrumentation, without any musical training required.
Practice DocumentedView practice →Jul 27, 2021
Data AnalysisPractice documented: Through its 2021 acquisition of three AI companies under the Shutterstock.AI subsidiary (Pattern89, Datasine, and Shotzr), Shutterstock offers AI tools that analyze the visual and compositional elements of ad creatives and predict their performance before a campaign goes live.
Practice DocumentedView practice →Jan 23, 2023
RecommendationNew evidence: Announcing Reverse Image Search for Video
Evidence AddedView practice →Jan 25, 2023
Creative GenPractice documented: Shutterstock offers a consumer-facing AI image/video generator that lets anyone type a description and receive licensable, commercially safe images in seconds, without needing design skills. The tool supports multiple AI models and styles.
Practice DocumentedView practice →Jul 12, 2023
Creative GenNew evidence: OpenAI secures license to access training data from Shutterstock… including its music libraries
Evidence AddedView practice →Oct 26, 2023
Creative GenPractice documented: Shutterstock has integrated AI editing tools directly into its image library, allowing users to modify, extend, or generate variations of any stock image without needing separate editing software.
Practice DocumentedView practice →Nov 9, 2023
ModerationPractice documented: Shutterstock uses automated AI systems to flag and filter offensive, adult, or policy-violating content from its contributor-submitted library and from AI-generated outputs on its platform. These safeguards also include multi-layered controls to prevent generation of harmful content via its AI tools.
Practice DocumentedView practice →Apr 18, 2024
ModerationNew evidence: AI-generated Content on Shutterstock: Contributor FAQ
Evidence AddedView practice →Jun 4, 2024
OtherPractice documented: Shutterstock licenses its image, video, music, and metadata library to major AI companies — including OpenAI, Meta, NVIDIA, and Apple — to train their generative AI models. This has become a significant and fast-growing revenue line for the company.
Practice DocumentedView practice →Oct 24, 2024
OtherNew evidence: Shutterstock Data Licensing and the Contributor Fund
Evidence AddedView practice →Jan 1, 2025
Creative GenNew evidence: AI Image Generator: Text to Image Online Tool | Shutterstock
Evidence AddedView practice →Oct 7, 2025
OtherPractice documented: In October 2025, Shutterstock launched a formal B2B suite of "AI Services" that go beyond simply licensing content — offering specialized dataset curation, human aesthetic preference labeling (RLHF-style), annotation, and model evaluation pipelines to AI developers building new models.
Practice DocumentedView practice →Feb 17, 2026
OtherNew evidence: Shutterstock Reports Full Year 2025 and Fourth Quarter Financial Results
Evidence AddedView practice →Through its 2021 acquisition of three AI companies under the Shutterstock.AI subsidiary (Pattern89, Datasine, and Shotzr), Shutterstock offers AI tools that analyze the visual and compositional elements of ad creatives and predict their performance before a campaign goes live.
In July 2021, Shutterstock announced the formation of Shutterstock.AI and the acquisition of Pattern89, Datasine, and Shotzr. Datasine's AI reviews past campaign performance of digital assets and provides recommendations for optimizing their performance; Shotzr uses human responsiveness to imagery for predictive analysis to ensure customers select the right image for social media campaigns that will resonate with audiences. This capability targets brands and marketing agencies seeking to reduce creative risk before launching campaigns. Whether these tools remain actively marketed as distinct products as of 2025–2026 is unclear and may have been folded into other offerings.
Shutterstock offers AI-generated, royalty-free music through technology acquired from Amper Music in 2020. Users can generate original music tracks by selecting genre, mood, and instrumentation, without any musical training required.
Shutterstock has integrated AI editing tools directly into its image library, allowing users to modify, extend, or generate variations of any stock image without needing separate editing software.
Shutterstock offers a consumer-facing AI image/video generator that lets anyone type a description and receive licensable, commercially safe images in seconds, without needing design skills. The tool supports multiple AI models and styles.
In October 2025, Shutterstock launched a formal B2B suite of "AI Services" that go beyond simply licensing content — offering specialized dataset curation, human aesthetic preference labeling (RLHF-style), annotation, and model evaluation pipelines to AI developers building new models.
Shutterstock licenses its image, video, music, and metadata library to major AI companies — including OpenAI, Meta, NVIDIA, and Apple — to train their generative AI models. This has become a significant and fast-growing revenue line for the company.
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Shutterstock uses automated AI systems to flag and filter offensive, adult, or policy-violating content from its contributor-submitted library and from AI-generated outputs on its platform. These safeguards also include multi-layered controls to prevent generation of harmful content via its AI tools.
Shutterstock's TRUST framework (announced November 2023) codifies its multi-layered content controls that help prevent creation of content displaying adult themes, offensive themes, or violence, including within its AI generation tools. The platform has "safeguards in place to flag and remove offensive content" from the library and enforces strict diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) guidelines governing how people are depicted. dditionally, contributors cannot upload AI-generated content to the core library, and all AI-generated images downloaded by customers come with a disclaimer acknowledging they have not been reviewed by Shutterstock's content compliance team.
Shutterstock uses a custom-built neural network to power visual similarity search and reverse image search across its entire library, allowing users to find matching content by uploading a photo rather than typing keywords. This applies to both images and video.
Shutterstock launched reverse image search and visually similar search in March 2016, powered by a custom-built convolutional neural network that analyzes pixel data rather than metadata. The system has been continuously expanded: it now covers images, video, and is exposed via a developer API. Shutterstock later extended the neural network to video, allowing users to upload a photo or frame and receive video clips matching its visual composition, light temperature, and subject matter.
