What happens on stock sites if you forget to label an image as AI?
Short version from my own contributor habits: do not forget, because the downside is not a polite email. On the stock sites I submit to, the AI label is a rule of the platform and the consequence for ignoring a rule is removal of the file, and for repeat or deliberate cases, trouble for the account. I have not personally had a file pulled for a missing label, so treat the rest as what the written policies say, not as a war story.
Cite
Creatisimo, "What happens on stock sites if you forget to label an image as AI?", https://creatisimo.net/topic/what-happens-on-stock-sites-if-you-forget-to-label-an-image-as-ai/, accessed 2026-10-27.Why I am asking: a few people in a contributors group are unsure whether a partly AI-assisted file needs the label. Examples that came up:
- A photo where generative fill extended the sky by a few hundred pixels.
- An illustration I drew by hand, where I used an AI tool to try color variations and then repainted over them.
- A vector I traced by hand from an AI sketch.
- A photo with a distracting person removed using a generative tool.
Different sites draw the line in different places, and the wording keeps changing, so what I want is the actual rule rather than forum rumor. My own approach is to label anything where generative tools added or changed the main subject, and to keep my working files and prompts so I can show my process if a reviewer asks.
Questions for the people who submit regularly: where is the line for background extension and object removal? Does a label affect how a file is reviewed or priced? And if you realize a month later that you missed one, do you fix the metadata or delete and resubmit?
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