Two years ago, "what does this contract say about AI" wasn't a question most photographers were asked. Now it comes up regularly, from both directions: clients asking whether you use AI tools in your editing process, and photographers wanting to make sure a client can't feed their delivered images into an AI model without asking first. Both are reasonable things to want clarity on, and both belong in the contract, not left as an assumption.
On your side: how you edit
If you use AI-assisted tools anywhere in your workflow (generative fill, AI noise reduction, AI-assisted retouching), some clients will want to know, particularly for anything documentary, journalistic, or where authenticity is part of what they're paying for. Being upfront about this in the contract (rather than leaving it to come up after delivery) heads off a conversation that's much more awkward after the fact.
On the client's side: what happens to your work after delivery
This is the direction most photographers haven't thought about yet. Once a client has the files, what stops them from using your images to train a model, generate derivative content, or feed into some other AI tool entirely outside the usage rights you actually licensed them? Nothing, unless the contract says so. An AI restriction clause makes explicit that the usage rights you're granting don't extend to AI training or generation, full stop, unless separately negotiated.
It doesn't need to be complicated
A short, clear clause covering both directions (your own AI-assisted editing disclosure, and a restriction on the client's use of your work as AI training data or input) is enough for the overwhelming majority of jobs. It's not about being anti-AI, it's about making sure everyone agreed to the same thing before the files ever left your hands, exactly the same logic as any other usage-rights clause.
This is exactly the kind of clause that dates fast if you're maintaining it by hand across every template you own. SetBook's clause library ships with AI usage restrictions built in and kept current, so it's one checkbox in the contract builder rather than a paragraph you're rewriting from memory every time the conversation comes up.