Can you use AI images commercially? What US law says, and what to check

You can use AI images commercially in the US, on your website, in ads, on packaging and in product listings, but you usually can't get copyright in them. In January 2025 the US Copyright Office concluded that with today's tools, prompts alone don't give a user enough control to be the author of what the AI makes.

Copyright usually won't stop others copying an AI image unless a person added real creative work. The image can still get you into trouble, though, depending on what's in it: someone else's character, a real person's face, another company's logo, or a product that isn't the one you sell.

This isn't legal advice. Every rule below links to its source, and the seven checks near the end are the ones to run before an AI image goes out.

Are AI-generated images copyrighted?

Not when the AI made them on its own. With today's tools, prompts alone don't make you the author, according to the Copyright Office, and the courts have ruled that a work made by AI alone can't be copyrighted.

Stephen Thaler applied to register an image and listed his AI system as its sole author. In March 2025 the US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit held in Thaler v. Perlmutter that "the Copyright Act requires all work to be authored in the first instance by a human being." The same opinion says the rule doesn't stop people copyrighting work made with the help of AI. The Supreme Court denied Thaler's petition to hear the case on March 2, 2026.

The Office's report on copyrightability draws the line for everyday work:

• Copyright doesn't extend to purely AI-generated material, or to material where a person had too little control over what it looks like.
• Your own work that shows through in the output is protected. If you start from your own drawing or photo and it's still visible in the result, that part is yours.
• A person's creative selection, arrangement or changes to the output can be protected.
• Using AI to assist a person, rather than to stand in for one, doesn't take protection away.

Two decisions show where that line falls. For the comic book Zarya of the Dawn, the Office decided in February 2023 that the author owned the text and the selection and arrangement of words and pictures, but not the images an AI tool had generated. It replaced her registration with one that leaves those images out.

For the image Théâtre D'opéra Spatial, the Office refused registration, and its Review Board confirmed that in September 2023. The artist, Jason Allen, said he had entered prompts and revisions at least 624 times. The Office had asked him to disclaim the AI-generated material, and he refused. He then sued the Copyright Office in federal court in Colorado. As of November 4, 2026, the Office's own list of AI cases showed no ruling.

The Office isn't against AI-assisted work. The same report says it has registered hundreds of works that include AI-generated material, with each registration covering what the human author contributed.

What can you use an AI image for?

Almost anything you'd use a stock photo or a designer's artwork for. The check that matters most changes from one use to the next.

Can you use an AI-generated logo?

You can, but a logo is the image you most need to own and to keep distinct from everyone else's, and an AI-made one is weak on both.

Copyright and trademark protect different things. The USPTO describes a trademark as "a word, phrase, design, or a combination that identifies your goods or services", while copyright covers creative works such as art. You don't have to register a trademark. Using it in commerce gives you "common law" rights, though the USPTO says you may only be able to enforce them in the areas where you use the mark.

An AI-made logo can still act as your brand mark once you use it, but it may have no copyright in the artwork. Even a logo a person designs isn't always covered: the Copyright Office says copyright doesn't protect names or short phrases, but it "may be available for logo artwork that contains sufficient authorship". If a freelancer or agency generated your logo with AI, there may be little or no copyright to transfer to you, so ask suppliers in writing whether they used AI.

An AI-made design can also resemble a logo that's already in use. Run the USPTO trademark search before you put a new logo on signs, vans or packaging, and search the web as well. The USPTO says its database is limited to federal applications and registrations, so a mark used without registration won't show up there.

When we set up AI images for a client, the AI never draws the logo. It comes from the client's brand files and is added after the image is made. Anything a business needs to own outright should be made by a person.

Seven checks before an AI image goes out

Run these on every image before it's published, whoever asked for it. Write them into your team's rules so nobody has to remember them.

1. The tool's terms. Open the terms for the plan you pay for and search for "commercial", "you own" and "indemn". The first two tell you whether you may use outputs in your business and who owns them. The last tells you whether the provider defends you if someone claims an image infringes.
2. Other people's work. Look for characters, artwork, photos or packaging you recognize. Copyright owners hold the exclusive right to reproduce their work and to prepare derivative works based on it, and anyone who violates those rights is an infringer. It makes no difference that an AI made the copy. Don't prompt with a living artist's name or a brand's characters, and don't upload someone else's photo to restyle it.
3. Real people. Don't use a real person's face, or a look-alike, without written consent. The right of publicity is a person's right to control commercial use of their name and likeness. A majority of states now recognize it "by statute, common law, or both," according to the Copyright Office's report on digital replicas. In New York, using a living person's "name, portrait, picture, likeness, or voice" for advertising or trade without written consent is a misdemeanor, and the person can sue to stop it and for damages.
4. AI-made people in ads. Since June 9, 2026, New York has required any business that makes an ad to conspicuously disclose a "synthetic performer" in it, if the business knows one is there. A synthetic performer is a person created with generative AI or other software who appears to perform in a visual or audiovisual ad but isn't recognizable as any real performer. Fines are $1,000 for a first violation and $5,000 for each one after that, and audio-only ads are among the exceptions. If your ads reach New York customers, label any ad that shows an AI-generated person.
5. No invented customers. An AI-made person holding your product next to a glowing quote is a fake testimonial. The FTC's rule on reviews and testimonials makes it unfair or deceptive for a business to create a testimonial that misrepresents that the person exists or used the product.
6. Product photos that show the product. If the image sells an item, show the item as it is. The FTC's policy is to find deception where a claim is "likely to mislead the consumer acting reasonably in the circumstances", and marketplaces spell it out. Google Merchant Center requires your main image to "clearly display the exact item being sold". It also requires metadata showing an image was made with generative AI. Don't strip tags such as IPTC DigitalSourceType, which records how an image was made. Etsy requires listings for items made by a seller to use "original photo or video content of the final product", so a generated picture of the item won't do there.
7. A record of how it was made. Save the prompt, the date, the tool and plan, and every change a person made. If you ever register the work, the record shows exactly what a person did. It also answers the question if anyone asks where an image came from.

Rule 8 of our free Rulebook puts several of these checks in one line: no fake logos, customers, quotes or reviews. This guide to what goes in an AI rulebook shows where image rules sit next to your other instructions.

How do you register a work that contains AI images?

You register the parts a person made and disclose the parts the AI made. The Copyright Office's registration guidance of March 16, 2023 says applicants have a duty to disclose AI-generated content in a work and to briefly explain what the human author contributed.

1. Use the Standard Application, which the guidance requires for these works.
2. Describe what a person made in the "Author Created" field: the text, the drawing, the edits, or the selection and arrangement.
3. Exclude AI-generated material that is more than de minimis, meaning more than a trivial amount, in the "Limitation of the Claim" section, under "Other".

If you've already registered a work without disclosing AI material, the guidance says to correct the public record by filing a supplementary registration. It warns that applicants who don't update the record "risk losing the benefits of the registration," and that the Office may cancel a registration if information it needs was left out.

Frequently asked questions

What counts as commercial use of an image?

Commercial use means using an image to promote or sell something: ads, your website, business social accounts, product listings, packaging and merchandise. A birthday card for a friend is personal use. Check that your plan allows commercial use before an image goes into anything that earns money.

Are AI images copyright free?

Partly. A purely AI-generated image has no copyright of its own, so others can reuse it, while the parts a person created, such as your own photo used as the starting point or substantial edits, can be protected. The image can still copy someone else's character, photo or artwork, and publishing that copy can infringe their copyright.

Can I sell AI-generated images or put them on products?

Yes, if your tool's terms allow it and the design doesn't copy a protected character, artwork or brand. Marketplaces add their own rules on top. Etsy, for example, requires sellers to disclose in the listing description when an item is created with the use of AI.

Do I have to label AI images as AI-generated?

Sometimes. New York requires a conspicuous disclosure when a business knows its ad features an AI-generated person who isn't recognizable as a real one, with exceptions such as audio-only ads. Google Merchant Center requires AI metadata on product images, and Etsy requires a note in the listing for items made with AI. Outside rules like these, label any image a customer could mistake for a real photo of your work, your team or your results.

Does it matter which AI tool made the image?

For copyright, the tool doesn't change the question, which is how much a person controlled the result. For your right to use the image, the tool matters: its terms decide whether you can use outputs commercially, who owns them and what happens if one infringes. Use a business account in your company's name, so the terms cover the business rather than one employee's personal account.