You generated a hero image, a client loved it, and now someone asks the awkward question: are we actually allowed to use this? The short answer is that each tool's own terms decide a lot of it, and those terms change. Below is a dated table of what I could read on 2026-10-09, with "not found" wherever a page refused to load. This is not legal advice.
What this post checked, and how
On 2026-10-09 I tried to read each vendor's own terms or FAQ pages with a fetch tool that returns a summary of the page. That matters: the summaries paraphrase. Nothing below is a verbatim quote, and exact wording can differ. Treat each row as a pointer to the page you should read, not as a replacement for it.
Several vendor pages returned HTTP 403 to my fetcher (OpenAI's terms and help centre, Midjourney's docs, Canva's terms and help pages). An editor re-tried those with a plain curl request the same day: OpenAI and Midjourney still returned 403, Canva returned a "enable JavaScript and cookies" challenge page, and midjourney.com/terms returned a page with no readable text. Those cells say "not found". Adobe's Firefly FAQ, which first returned 404, was readable on the re-try and has its own row. I did not fill any cell from memory, and I did not use third-party blog posts.
Commercial use by tool: the dated table
| Tool | What the page I could read said (paraphrased) | Source type | Gaps |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adobe Firefly | Adobe's general terms (Section 4) say you own Content you create with its services and Adobe does not claim ownership. Section 17 says you can use Firefly to generate content for any other legal purpose, but not to train ML or AI systems with the outputs. The terms have no separate explicit commercial-use grant for generated output. | Adobe general terms, summarised | The Generative AI product-specific terms were linked but not readable. On the editor's re-check the terms page loaded its text dynamically, so the section numbers here rest on the original summary and were not re-confirmed; open the page and find the sections yourself. |
| Adobe Firefly FAQ (help centre) | Re-tried on 2026-10-09 and readable this time (HTTP 200, page text read directly). Under "Using Firefly" it says that for features without the beta label you can use Firefly-generated outputs in your commercial projects, and for beta features you can too unless explicitly stated otherwise in the product. It says Adobe is training its initial commercial Firefly model on Adobe Stock images, openly licensed content and public-domain content with expired copyright. | Adobe help-centre FAQ, read as page text | The FAQ text I read did not mention indemnification, and its commercial-use sentence is about Firefly-generated outputs; partner models listed in the app may have their own terms. Re-read the live page. |
| Adobe Firefly (marketing) | Adobe describes its own Firefly models as safe for commercial use, trained on licensed Adobe Stock and public-domain content. Partner models (Google, OpenAI, Runway and others) are offered inside Firefly, and the page did not say they carry the same label. | Firefly product page, summarised | The page did not mention IP indemnification. Check your contract. |
| Adobe AI user guidelines | You may not generate content that infringes copyright, trademark, privacy or publicity rights, including by uploading reference images with a third party's copyrighted content. Do not remove Content Credentials Adobe attaches. | Adobe guidelines page, summarised | Says nothing on commercial use or ownership itself. |
| Google (Gemini, Imagen) | Google's Terms of Service say you own content you create and Google won't claim ownership. They ban using AI output from the services to develop ML models, and ban misleading people into thinking generative AI content was made by a human. Gemini API terms also say Google may produce the same or similar content for other users. | Google ToS and Gemini API terms, summarised | The standalone generative AI terms page said it no longer applies to most users since 2024-05-22. Paid-cloud indemnity terms not checked. |
| Google image models | The Gemini API image docs say every generated image carries a SynthID watermark. | Gemini API docs, summarised | Vertex AI docs were not updated and pointed elsewhere. |
| Stability AI | The Community License is free for individuals and organisations under USD 1M annual revenue, including commercial use. Above that, an Enterprise License is required. Commercial products built on Core Models require registration. | Stability license page, summarised, then re-read as page text on 2026-10-09 (the USD 1M threshold and the Enterprise License wording match) | Per-model terms and exact definitions of "revenue" not read. |
| OpenAI (ChatGPT images, API) | Not found. Terms of use, service terms and help-centre pages all returned 403. | None | Ownership and commercial-use wording unverified. |
| Midjourney | Not found. Terms and plan pages returned 403. | None | Revenue thresholds for plan tiers, visibility of images and ownership wording unverified. |
| Canva (Magic Media, AI images) | Not found. Terms, AI terms and help pages returned 403. | None | Unverified. |
Read that table as a to-do list. If you use OpenAI, Midjourney or Canva for client work, open their current terms yourself and note the date.
Why "who owns it" and "can I use it" are different questions
Terms of service answer one question: what does the vendor claim and what does it let you do. They do not decide whether the image is protected by copyright in your country. The US Copyright Office's AI page says Part 2 of its report, published 2025-01-29, addresses whether AI outputs can be copyrighted, and lists registration decisions on works containing AI material. The page I could read did not state the conclusions, so go to the report.
Practical consequences, framed as questions for a professional rather than answers:
- If a competitor copies your AI-generated logo, will you be able to enforce rights in it?
- Does your client contract promise them exclusive ownership of deliverables you made with a generator?
- Does the generated image resemble a real brand, person or character closely enough to cause trouble no matter who "owns" it?
The third one is where most real-world problems come from, not the license text.
A five-step check before you ship an AI image
Run this each time a client or campaign depends on the image.
- Name the plan. Free, paid, team or enterprise often have different terms. Write down which one generated the file.
- Open the terms page and save it. Take a dated PDF or screenshot. Terms move, and you want to know what applied on the day.
- Search the page for three things: ownership of output, commercial use, and any restriction on training models with the output. Note anything about revenue thresholds.
- Check the content itself. No third-party logos, recognisable people, characters or distinctive styles you do not have rights to. Our guide to realistic product ad prompts and the note on prompts that include people cover the practical side of that.
- Keep the record. Tool, plan, date, prompt, reference images, output file.
A prompt to extract the clauses (untested template)
Paste the vendor's own terms text into a model and ask it to pull the clauses, then read the clauses yourself. This is an untested template, and the model can miss or misread things, so treat its output as an index.
Below is the full text of a vendor's terms. Do not summarise.
List, with the exact section number and a short quote of at most
15 words each:
1. Any clause on who owns generated output.
2. Any clause on commercial use or revenue-based plan limits.
3. Any clause restricting use of output to train other models.
4. Any clause on indemnification or IP claims.
5. Any clause on public visibility of my generations.
If a topic is not present, write "NOT FOUND" for it. Do not guess.
TERMS:
[paste text]
Checking the quotes against the page takes a minute and catches invented section numbers.
What to tell a client
If your client work involves AI images, say so in the contract and the handover note. Our template for disclosure wording and the AI use policy template give you language to adapt. If prompts or reference images contain client data, also read the vendor retention and training opt-out table.
Skip this advice if
You only make internal mood boards or throwaway social posts. The risk is lower there, and a quick look at the plan's terms is enough. The five-step check earns its time on logos, packaging, ads, book covers and anything a client will own.
When to ask a professional
Hire an IP lawyer when the image will be a trademark, a core brand asset, a book cover, packaging or part of a big campaign, or when a contract promises exclusivity. This post is a map of where the vendors' own words are, not a legal opinion.
