Parents are being accused of theft by professional photographers after using AI to remove the watermarks from their child’s school portraits.
Creatives have told Metro their industry is being deeply affected after people refuse to pay for their work, using artificial intelligence to manipulate their professional images.
‘AI is affecting the income of nearly every creative I know,’ photographer Denise Maxwell, who owns Lensi Photography, tells Metro.
She adds that if parents are doing this, ‘it’s theft’, and believes there’s no justification.
With UK households paying almost £14,000 on average in additional costs for mortgages, loans, energy and water bills over the past five years, rising costs are many parents’ justifications for working the system.
Why do parents do it?
Mum-of-one Lucy, 39, tells Metro that her partner suggested using AI to remove the watermark from her 18-month-old daughter’s nursery pictures.
‘I didn’t actually want to do it but I have to admit, I was impressed with the result,’ she explains. ‘We had already decided we wouldn’t be buying any of the pictures from her nursery shoot because of the huge cost, but given how good the image came out, we decided to print it and frame it.’
If she had paid for the image it would have been more than £20 for a hard copy, and £19 for a digital. According to GotPhoto, a typical school portrait can cost anywhere from £10 to £25 for a single print, while packages of individual and group photos cost £35 to £75.
But, Lucy agrees it’s ‘morally wrong’, and she had some ‘safety concerns’ about putting her daughter’s image into the AI chatbot, although she can see why some parents would continue to do it.
‘I wouldn’t do it again – we take such lovely pictures of our little girl, we don’t need the professional pictures, in all honesty,’ she says.
‘They’re just so expensive and not many of my mum friends are buying these anymore – they need to be much cheaper.’
‘It is clear theft’
Photographer Denise doesn’t believe that AI watermark removal can ever be justified.
‘I’ve seen parents argue that school photos cost too much and that justifies the theft,’ she says. ‘Are we now a nation that trivialises stealing something that we can’t afford?
‘Granted, photos are not cheap. Most photography isn’t. Photos are actually a non-essential product, and yes, photographers make a profit from them, that’s what businesses do.’
As a parent herself, Denise understands the struggles when money is a little tight.
‘I definitely had years where I didn’t purchase school photos, and years I did, so I get it,’ she admits. ‘But there are options like taking your own photos, before you consider theft.’
Denise says this could lead creatives to ask parents to ‘pay to view’ the images, which she knows will ’cause a lot of complaints’.
‘Or, photographers will stop doing school photos altogether, but it’s the way we’re heading.’
Sports photographer Dylan Evans, 21, posted a statement on X after he fell victim to people stealing his work, too.
‘Multiple players are using AI generators to remove the watermarks from my photos without paying for them,’ he wrote back in August. ‘This is breaking the law.
📸⚽️ pic.twitter.com/tvHBBTDivz
— dylanevans.photos (@DylanEvansFB) August 2, 2026
‘In future, anyone who removes my watermark will no longer have any photos taken of them… I will also be issuing invoices to anyone who uses my work without any payment following guidance from Copyright Laws that are in place.’
Is it worth it?
But Denise makes an equally good point about child safety.
‘What I would ask parents to think about is that by feeding your child’s body and face into AI systems, what will their likeness be used for going forward for the sake of saving £40?’ she asks.
AI safety expert James Vincent, founder of Digital Resistance, previously told Metro that people should be wary of this.
‘Uploading a photograph doesn’t automatically mean your face is permanently stored or will appear in somebody else’s images,’ he said. ‘But you are handing that photograph to another company.
‘How long they keep it and what they can do with it depends on their privacy policy, terms and your settings.
‘Before uploading a photograph, particularly one of a child, ask who owns the tool, where the image is going, how long it will be kept, whether it can be used to improve the AI and whether you can delete it afterwards.’
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