Field guide · Part 9 of 13
AI and Machine Learning Clauses
4 rules on ai and machine learning clauses for architectural and real estate photographers, each with its source.
Educational, not legal advice. Every rule below carries its source and a
confidence level, because some of this is settled law and some is contested. The ones marked
contested need a lawyer's judgement on your facts, not a rule of thumb.
Rule 37Surprising
AI training rights are now a named line item, and photographers are being asked to grant them, sometimes unknowingly.
The Artists Management Association’s circulated clause states that “unless explicitly authorized, licensee may not use the asset(s) including any caption information, keywords, or other metadata associated with content for any machine learning and/or artificial intelligence purposes.”
The misconception: “AI is not my contract’s problem.”
Source: Artists Management Association recommended language, first circulated via A Photo Editor (October 13, 2023) and still in use in 2026; ASMP offers members “AI-ready contracts.”
Confidence: High that the clause exists and is circulating. Rapidly changing; the PLUS Coalition has not published a specific model clause as of this research.
Rule 38Surprising
Portal terms of use grant broad “any purpose” rights that can encompass AI, even without the words “AI training.”
Zillow’s Terms of Use (updated October 28, 2025) take an “irrevocable, perpetual, royalty-free worldwide license” to “reproduce, edit, modify, prepare derivative works” and to “sublicense these rights,” and Zillow separately trains computer-vision models on listing photos.
The misconception: “If the terms don’t say AI, my photos are safe from it.”
Source: Zillow Terms of Use, October 28, 2025; CoStar/Homes.com Terms define “AI Features” using “machine learning techniques” and state Homes AI data is “never used to train or refine external AI models” (note the “external” qualifier); NAR’s own site terms take a “nonexclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, sublicensable, royalty-free license ... for any purpose.”
Confidence: High on the quoted terms; the AI-training inference is drawn from broad grants plus company statements. Evolving; realtor.com’s exact consumer listing clause was not directly confirmed in this research.
Rule 39
The US Copyright Office has said AI training is not automatically fair use, and named stock photography as a licensable market.
This means photographers have a legitimate, government-acknowledged basis to charge for AI training rights rather than treat them as free.
The misconception: “AI companies can train on my work for free as fair use.”
Source: US Copyright Office, “Copyright and Artificial Intelligence, Part 3: Generative AI Training” (pre-publication version, May 9, 2025), which states voluntary licensing “may be workable ... particularly where training is focused on valuable content that can be licensed in relatively high volumes (e.g., popular music and stock photography).”
Confidence: Medium-high; the report is a pre-publication policy document, not binding law, and litigation is ongoing. Contested and actively litigated.
Rule 40
In 2025 and 2026, real disputes over AI-adjacent contract terms are already happening at scale.
Photographers who never defined AI rights are discovering their work inside training deals through their clients’ side agreements.
The misconception: “AI licensing is a future problem.”
Source: By mid-2026, 650 freelance photographers had signed a collective letter (organized by the group “Your Visual Colleagues”) opposing a Wall Street Journal contract they said adds a work-for-hire clause and lets WSJ sublicense with “no exclusion for companies developing AI technologies,” per Daniella Zalcman in the Columbia Journalism Review (July 8, 2026); separately, in Getty Images (US) Inc & ors v Stability AI Ltd [2025] EWHC 2863 (Ch), handed down by Mrs Justice Joanna Smith DBE on November 4, 2025, the UK High Court dismissed Getty’s secondary copyright infringement claim (Getty had abandoned its primary copyright claims mid-trial) and made only “extremely limited” trademark findings.
Confidence: High that the disputes exist. Fast-moving.
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Resid
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