Can you use AI images commercially? Ownership, tool terms, likeness and labelling for brands

In most cases a business can use AI images commercially, but copyright in them is not guaranteed: the US, for example, protects only what a human determined in the output, and a prompt alone is not enough. What decides things in practice is the tool’s terms of use, your contract with whoever produced the images, and whether the image contains something belonging to someone else: a logo, a real person’s likeness or a known work. On some platforms and in some countries, AI content must also be labelled.

This article covers the questions every brand asks when it starts working with AI images: who owns the image, what the tool terms say, what about trademarks and real faces, and when labelling is required. It is general information from our own work, not legal advice; for a specific case, speak to an intellectual-property lawyer in your jurisdiction. The wider picture of AI content for a brand is in AI content creation for brands.

Who owns an AI-generated image?

The question splits in two: is there copyright in the image at all, and if there is, who holds it.

United States: only what a human determined

The US Copyright Office published Part 2 of its report on copyright and AI in January 2025. Its conclusions: generative AI output is protected only where a human author has determined sufficient expressive elements; the mere provision of prompts does not confer protection; and using AI as a tool, or including AI-generated material in a larger human-made work, does not bar protection. In practice, an image made from a prompt alone is probably not protected there, while composition, editing, selection and arrangement done by a person can be.

Israel: the question of output is still open

Israel’s Ministry of Justice issued an opinion in December 2022 on using protected works to train models, finding that such use will mostly be fair use (summary in Hebrew). The opinion states explicitly that it does not deal with the model’s output, and that an infringing output gets no shelter from it. So whether there is copyright in an image you generated, and what happens when it resembles an existing work, is not settled there. For a business, certainty comes from the contract and the tool’s terms, not from the statute.

The practical consequence: if there is no strong copyright in an image, a competitor may be able to reuse it without you having a clear claim. That is one more reason to build assets that identify the brand in other ways: a consistent character, a visual language, a registered logo, not a single image.

Tool terms of use: what to check

Every image tool sets out in its terms what you may do with outputs, and the terms differ between tools and sometimes between plans of the same tool. Before using images in ads, on packaging or in a store, check:

• Whether commercial use of outputs is allowed, and on which subscription plan.
• Whether the tool claims any rights in outputs, or keeps a licence to use them.
• Whether images you upload as references, such as product photos, are used for training.
• Whether there are limits on content: real people, brands, political content.
• Whether the tool embeds an AI marker in the file, and whether you may remove it.

When a studio produces for you, the question moves to the contract: it should say the files belong to you or that you hold a clear licence, and which tools were used in production.

What a contract with a studio should cover

• Ownership or licence: the final files are yours on payment, or you hold a licence unlimited in time and media.
• Named tools: which models and tools were used in production, so you can check their terms.
• Source material: what happens to the product photos and references you supplied, and whether they stay within your project.
• Character and product sheets: delivered to you, so you can continue with another supplier.
• Consents: if a character is based on a real model, her written consent and the scope of use.
• Responsibility for checking: who checks for third-party logos or likenesses before delivery.

Third-party rights do not disappear because the image was generated.

Trademarks, logos and other people’s work

An image model can produce, unasked, another brand’s logo on a bottle, a character from a well-known film, or furniture very close to a protected design. Third-party rights do not disappear because the image was generated. The practical rules:

• Do not ask a model for “the style of” a particular brand, photographer or artist, and do not feed another brand’s campaign in as a reference to copy it.
• Check every image at full size for logos, text and symbols you did not put there.
• Place your own logo from the original file; never let the model draw it. That protects the identity and avoids a garbled version of a registered mark.
• An inspiration reference sets light, pose and angle, not the work itself.

Real people: faces, voices and likeness

This is where the legal risk is clearest. Many jurisdictions protect a person’s likeness. In Israel, where we work, the Privacy Protection Law lists the use of a person’s name, nickname, image or voice for profit (section 2(6), in Hebrew) as an infringement of privacy. An AI image that clearly evokes a model, actress or celebrity, or a voice imitating a known person, can fall under rules like this even if not a single pixel was copied.

So a brand’s recurring character is built from scratch, or from a model who gave written consent, with a contract that defines use, period and fee. How such a character is built and kept is covered in AI models for fashion and jewellery brands.

Do you have to label AI-generated images?

There is no single rule. Labelling depends on the platform, the country and the type of content. These are the main rules that touch brands, at the time of writing:

Sources: Meta’s announcement on labelling AI content, Google Merchant Center’s rules for AI-generated images, and the European Commission’s AI Act page. Whether an AI image can be the main image in a store, and when a shoot is better, is covered in AI product photography vs a photoshoot.

Checklist for brands before publishing AI images

1. The tool’s terms allow commercial use on the plan the images were made with.
2. The contract with the studio says the files are yours or that you hold a clear licence, and names the tools.
3. There is no logo, text or symbol belonging to someone else in the image.
4. Your logo is the original file, not the model’s drawing.
5. No real person’s face or voice appears without written consent.
6. The product in the image is the real product: shape, colour, label and dimensions.
7. An AI character is not used for testimonials, reviews or before-and-after images.
8. Labelling matches the platform and the country where the content runs.
9. File metadata is kept, especially in images for product feeds.
10. Source files, references and the character and product sheets are kept on your side.

How a product sheet keeps the image faithful to the real product is covered in AI product photography. In the Libra Studio workspace, a concept we built for working with clients, every file is checked against the brand’s rules and approved with comments pinned to the image, and in the commercials we produced for three fictional businesses every shot starts from an approved frame.

How we work at Libra

At Libra the files we produce are delivered to the client, under a contract that sets out ownership and the tools we used. We never build a character from a real person’s face without consent, never let a model draw a logo, and check every file at full size before delivery. The details are on our AI models and product imagery page.

For an AI content project for your brand, send a brief with the products and where the content will appear. We reply by email with a direction, a written price and a delivery date.

Questions

Can you use AI-generated images commercially?

In most cases yes, if the tool’s terms allow commercial use and the image contains no one else’s logo, likeness or work. Your contract with whoever produced it should say the files are yours.

Are AI-generated images protected by copyright?

In the US, only what a human determined in the output is protected; a prompt alone is not enough, according to the US Copyright Office. Other countries differ, and in Israel the question of output has not been settled.

Who owns an AI image made by a studio for my brand?

Whatever the contract says. Ask for a clause that the delivered files belong to you or that you hold a clear licence, and for the tools used to be named.

Can I create an AI image of a real person or celebrity?

Not without consent. Many jurisdictions protect likeness; Israel’s Privacy Protection Law, for example, treats using a person’s name, image or voice for profit as an infringement of privacy.

Do you have to label AI images on Instagram?

Meta labels images it detects as AI and requires disclosure of realistic video and audio that was created or altered. Check the rules before each campaign, because they change.

What if an AI image resembles an existing work?

Do not publish it. Neither the tool nor the fact that it was generated protects an infringing output, so an image that clearly evokes someone else’s photo, illustration or design is regenerated without the reference that caused the resemblance.

Can AI product images be used in Google Merchant Center?

Yes, provided the files carry IPTC metadata stating the image was AI-generated and that metadata is not removed.

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