An in-depth look at AI image-creation tools like Imagen, DALL-E 2, and Midjourney; Midjourney users are making concept art for clients and using stock art less
How we work — even think — changes when we can instantly command convincing images into existence.
Context & Ripple Effects
This piece catches generative image tools at their commercial tipping point: Midjourney users are now delivering client-facing concept art straight from the model, and the stock-art purchase that used to sit in that workflow is dropping out. OpenAI had already scaled DALL-E 2 to 3M images by June while adding up to 1,000 users per week under a content policy, so the demand side of image generation was proven — this reporting is about the supply side of creative work starting to move.
First-order effects
- Midjourney users doing paid client concept art are substituting generation for stock-art purchases, directly cutting into the licensing revenue that stock libraries like Getty depend on — and Getty responded within a day by banning AI-generated images from its platform, citing legal exposure.
Second-order effects
- Illustrators and animators face a bifurcated market: the FT's later reporting shows some artists folding DALL-E and Midjourney into their own work while others treat the tools as a livelihood threat, forcing individual creators to pick a side rather than wait out the shift.
Third-order effects
- The pattern extends beyond illustration into adjacent design trades — architects are already using these same tools for complex design work per the FT — pointing toward creative industries restructuring around who prompts and curates rather than who renders, with platforms like Midjourney capturing the workflow.
The trend: Generative image tools are unbundling creative production from stock libraries and commissioned illustration, with adoption spreading from hobbyist Discord users to paid client work across design professions.