Feature Request: Image Attribution, Provenance, and Source Linking in ChatGPT Image Results

ChatGPT Feature requests
1

As a professional photographer and stock contributor, I would like to request that ChatGPT’s image search/display system provide visible attribution and provenance information for images shown within conversations.

Currently, image-group results can display copyrighted images without:

  • creator credit

  • source website attribution

  • clickable origin links

  • licensing or copyright context

This creates several issues:

  1. Creator Attribution
    Photographers, artists, and publishers deserve visible credit when their work appears in AI-assisted search or visual browsing experiences.

  2. User Awareness
    Many users may incorrectly assume that images displayed by ChatGPT are public domain, AI-generated, or freely reusable simply because no attribution or licensing information is shown.

  3. Copyright & Licensing Confusion
    Without provenance metadata, users cannot easily determine:

  • who created the image

  • whether the image is copyrighted

  • where to license it

  • whether reuse is permitted

  1. Missed Traffic & Discovery Opportunity
    Clickable source links would benefit both creators and users by allowing viewers to:

  • visit the original source

  • license imagery properly

  • discover photographers/artists

  • view higher-quality versions and context

  1. Trust & Transparency
    Displaying provenance/source information would improve trust in the platform and reduce the “mystery image” problem where images appear with no clear origin.

Suggested Improvements:

  • Add visible creator/photo credit overlays

  • Add clickable source links

  • Display source domain/publication

  • Include licensing indicators where available

  • Provide optional provenance metadata on hover/click

  • Allow creators to opt into enhanced attribution

I encountered a situation where one of my own copyrighted landscape photographs surfaced inside ChatGPT image results without attribution. While the appearance itself was understandable as part of search indexing, the absence of creator/source information highlighted the need for clearer provenance handling.

This would significantly improve creator support, copyright awareness, transparency, and user trust in AI-assisted visual search experiences.

2

Hey @adventure_photo! I can definitely see why this matters. Better attribution and provenance would make image results feel a lot less opaque, and it’d help creators get proper credit while giving users more context around what they’re looking at.

Appreciate you sharing it, especially with a concrete example from your own work. I can’t share a timeline right now, but I’ll pass it along internally.

- Sunny

3

Thank you Sunny, I appreciate you taking this into consideration and passing it along internally!

Best, Scott