Artists sue AI company for billions, alleging "parasite" app used their work for free

As AI-generated images proliferate across the internet, two lawsuits are seeking to rein in the potent technology as well as ensure the artists who unwittingly helped train the tools are financially compensated for their work. 

The litigation, which targets the company behind the Stable Diffusion engine, represents the first legal actions of its kind and could redefine the rights and protections of computer-generated art as the technology make rapid advancements. 

A suit filed by Getty Images this week in the U.K. claims the company, Stability AI, illegally scraped the image service's content. And a class-action lawsuit, filed in California federal court on behalf of three artists last week, alleges that the software's use of their work broke copyright and other laws and threatens to put the artists out of a job.