Perplexity is trying to put a clearer rights framework around the images that appear in its AI search results. The AI search startup has signed a multi-year licensing deal with Getty Images, giving it permission to show Getty images across its AI-powered search and discovery tools.
The agreement matters because Perplexity has spent the last year under pressure over how it uses content from publishers and other online sources. The Getty Images deal does not settle every question around AI search, but it does show the company moving toward more formal partnerships for the material its product surfaces.
What the Getty Images agreement covers
The central point of the deal is straightforward: Perplexity now has permission to display images from Getty Images in its AI-powered search and discovery tools. Perplexity says the agreement will help it present images more effectively and include credits with links back to the original source whenever those images appear in search results.
That attribution piece is not just a design detail. In AI search, results are assembled and summarized in ways that can make the source of information or media less obvious to users. For images, credits and links are a practical way to show where the visual material came from and who created it.
Nick Unsworth, vice president of strategic development at Getty, said the agreement acknowledges the importance of "properly attributed consent" in AI-powered products. Jessica Chan, head of content and publisher partnerships at Perplexity, also tied the deal to attribution and accuracy, saying users should know where content comes from and who created it.
A relationship that started before the announcement
The newly announced agreement is not the first connection between the two companies. Perplexity and Getty have been working together for more than a year, according to a source familiar with the deal cited by TechCrunch.
Getty was also part of Perplexity’s Publishers’ Program, although that involvement had not been announced. The program was designed to share ad revenue with publishers when their content appeared in a search query.
The new Getty Images licensing deal is separate from that earlier arrangement. A source told TechCrunch it is not a traditional lump sum licensing deal because Perplexity does not train its own foundational models. The source did not provide more detail about the terms.
That distinction is important because licensing discussions around AI often involve different uses of content. In this case, the article describes a deal focused on displaying Getty images in Perplexity’s products, while also noting that Perplexity does not train its own foundational models.
Why the deal lands at a sensitive moment
The agreement arrives after Perplexity faced a series of plagiarism accusations from several news organizations. In one case, the startup was criticized for pulling content from a Wall Street Journal article, including the Getty photo used in that piece.
At the time, several outlets questioned whether Perplexity’s use of the images amounted to copyright infringement. A source last year told TechCrunch that Perplexity was working on an agreement with Getty, but TechCrunch said it could not confirm the deal then after contacting the stock image company several times.
The new agreement appears to legitimize at least some of Perplexity’s previous use of Getty’s stock photos. It also gives the company a more formal basis for using those images going forward, at least inside the products covered by the deal.
Perplexity’s broader content practices remain under scrutiny. More recently, Reddit sued Perplexity in October, alleging “industrial-scale, unlawful” scraping of user content and accusing the company of circumventing technical measures to access data. Reddit also has a data licensing agreement with OpenAI.
The larger issue is attribution in AI search
Perplexity’s public emphasis on attribution fits with how the company has defended itself against copyright accusations. The company has argued that its use of publisher content can qualify as fair use because publicly available facts are not copyrightable.
That position has been applied even where publisher content sits behind a paywall or where publishers have explicitly indicated they do not want their content scraped. The Getty Images agreement does not erase that debate. It does, however, show Perplexity making a specific licensing commitment around a major source of visual content.
For users, the practical impact may be most visible in search results that include images. If Perplexity follows through on its stated approach, Getty images should appear with clearer credits and links back to the original source.
For publishers and content owners, the deal is another sign that AI search companies are being pushed to clarify how they source, display, and attribute third-party material. Perplexity’s agreement with Getty Images is not just about image access. It is also about whether AI search can build products around content while giving creators, publishers, and rights holders a more visible role in the experience.