My girlfriend told me about Midjourney and Stable Diffusion and thinks you could make stock photos with them and sell them. But I'm skeptical - are the images even legally usable? And how does it work with the usage rights for these tools?
Your skepticism is justified - it's not as straightforward as your friend makes it sound. The legal side is pretty contentious right now and varies depending on which tool you're using and where you want to sell the images. With Midjourney, you're allowed to use the images commercially if you have a paid subscription - but Stable Diffusion is more complicated because some of the underlying training data was used without the artists' permission. A lot of stock photo platforms are still cautious and either reject AI images or have special guidelines for them.
The bigger issue: the market is completely flooded. Thousands of people are doing this at the same time, and the images often look similar - the AI keeps producing the same patterns. Making money with it is possible, but not with just any generic stock photos. You need a specific niche approach, good prompting skills, and above all, a lot of patience. And honestly: if your friend can't show you that she's already making money from it herself, I'd be skeptical about the whole thing.
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